Ain't no mountain high enough for wife of Malmo coach

By Philip O'Connor

Norwegian coach Age Hareide has turfed his wife out of their home in order to focus 100 percent on Malmo's Champions League qualifying encounter with Red Bull Salzburg.

Malmo travel to Austria for Tuesday's first match, with the winners of the two-legged tie going through to the lucrative group stages of Europe's leading club competition.

"I've even sent my wife home so I can be in peace and prepare. She was thrown out and has gone up to the Norwegian mountains," former Manchester City defender Hareide told the Kvaellsposten newspaper.

"When it gets like this I go into a bubble where I spend a lot of time on details," added the coach of the Swedish champions and current league leaders.

Salzburg will be a tough test for Malmo.

After five games in Austria's Bundesliga they top the table with a maximum 15 points, having amassed 24 goals and conceded one.

But after overturning a 4-2 defeat at Sparta Prague by winning 2-0 at home and advancing on away goals in the previous round, Hareide is confident Malmo can progress.

"If we get a good result away from home we will fill the stadium here," he said.

"The feeling from the home game against Prague...I've never been in heaven but that's probably how it feels."

(Reporting by Philip O'Connor, editing by Tony Jimenez)