Bordeaux midfielder Yoann Gourcuff is relishing the pressure of
Wednesday night's Champions League last-16 clash at home to
Olympiacos.
Laurent Blanc's men have one foot in the final eight after
triumphing 1-0 in Greece a fortnight ago and are now looking to
complete the job on Wednesday.
Should they do so it will be Bordeaux's first appearance in
the quarter-finals of Europe's premier club competition since 1988
and Gourcuff is looking forward to the challenge.
"It's obvious that it's nice," he told the official club
website.
"There's pressure for this match, that's true, but it's
positive.
"It's great to be playing a Champions League last-16 tie in
front of our supporters.
"We're in a good position to qualify. To be playing to
qualify for the quarter-finals in our own stadium is something
lovely.
"It's up to us to see to it that we have a wonderful night."
Gourcuff has warned his team-mates against the danger of
underestimating Olympiacos, who will not have given up on their
Champions League dream.
"They lost their first match so they will want to put
everything into this match," he added.
"They're not going to ask themselves too many questions.
They're just going to try to attack and put us in difficulty.
"They have their backs to the wall, so they will try to put
us under a lot of pressure at the beginning of the match.
"It's up to us to play intelligently and to recover the high
balls in their area."
Since securing a 1-0 victory in Greece, Bordeaux have
struggled somewhat domestically, drawing against Montpellier and
Monaco and losing to Auxerre.
Les Girondins have seen their lead at the top of the Ligue 1
standings evaporate to nothing, although they do have a game in
hand on Montpellier, who are now level on points, and other teams
immediately below them.
Gourcuff knows victory tomorrow could serve as a timely boost
for their title defence.
"The league and the Champions League have nothing to do with
each other," he said. "The matches are different.
"But if we manage to progress it's true that it would boost
the whole group and everyone at the club.
"It could only do us good."
Bordeaux captain Alou Diarra.is back after playing his first
90 minutes against Monaco since his injury at Rennes at the
beginning of February.
History is against Olympiacos as only once has any team lost
the first leg at home but then progressed to the next stage - when
Ajax were beaten 1-0 by Panathinaikos before triumphing in Athens
in the 1996 semi-finals.
Moreover, the Greek outfit have only won two away games in
the competition - with their last success coming nearly three years
ago.
Bozidar Bandovic's men are facing even more of an uphill
battle after the news that Diogo, Dudu Cearense and Jesus Datolo
are all out of the clash.
Top goalscorer Konstantinos Mitroglou has recovered from a
broken nose, however, and featured at the weekend, while Oscar
Gonzalez and Michal Zewlakow were fit enough for places on the
substitutes' bench so could start.
Olympiacos will be hoping for some joy after a miserable
league campaign.
They are six points off Super League leaders Panathinaikos,
who they play this weekend and face the very real prospect of not
winning the title for only the second time in 13 years.
