Bordeaux needs to improve on its disappointing domestic form on
Wednesday when it hosts Olympiakos in a bid to reach the Champions
Leauge quarterfinals for the first time since 1988.
Laurent Blanc's side is protecting a 1-0 lead in the second
leg but it hasn't won a match since the Feb. 23 victory against the
Greek side.
Bordeaux has taken only two points from its last three league
games and was held to a 0-0 draw at Monaco last weekend. The
defending French champions managed to stay top of the standings on
goal difference, after losing the 10-point lead it held over
second-placed Montpellier at the winter break.
"Despite a difficult spell and some doubts over the way we're
playing, we are still on course to fulfill our lofty objectives,"
Blanc said after the Monaco game. "We deserved a point but no more
than that, and given how delicate things are at the moment with the
Champions League game in midweek, it was important to get something
from the Monaco trip."
The French squad has shown signs of fatigue and has struggled
in attack, and speculation that Blanc may replace Raymond Domenech
as the France coach hasn't helped.
But Bordeaux's European run has been spectacular, with six
wins in seven matches and only two goals conceded. After drawing
1-1 at Juventus in their first match of the group stage, Bordeaux
beat the Italian powerhouse at home and also downed Bayern Munich
twice to top group A.
Those results have convinced Blanc and his players they are
capable of competing with the biggest European teams, and even
winning the Champions League.
"The group stage gave me a lot of hope," France international
midfielder Alou Diarra told L'Equipe newspaper. "The big clubs are
still ahead of us. But that gap has narrowed year after year and we
proved it."
Blanc attributes Bordeaux's improvement on the European scene
to his players' mental strength - a quality he was known for when
he was a defender on France's World Cup-winning team in 1998.
"We went to Turin with a lot of desire, with the desire to
cause Juventus problems, with the desire to play to our strengths
and, above all, not feel what French clubs often feel against these
big famous clubs - a certain fragility, a certain complex," he
said. "In that first game, my players managed to get over their
complexes."
Bordeaux only needs a draw to advance alongside domestic
rival Lyon, which went through after knocking out Real Madrid. It
would be the first time that two French clubs reached this stage of
the tournament since Monaco and Lyon in 2004.
After starting on the bench at Monaco, France playmaker Yoann
Gourcuff, striker Marouane Chamakh and defender Mathieu Chalme are
expected to start against a Greek side that was held to a 2-2 draw
by relegation-threatened Giannina in the league last weekend.
"We must not succumb to fate," Olympiakos defender Olof
Mellberg said. "We can use the second leg to recover. We have to
score a goal and we believe in our chances to go through."
