Lyon looking to knock out unbeaten Bordeaux

Lyon looking to knock out unbeaten Bordeaux

Published Mar. 29, 2010 2:57 p.m. ET

Lyon will look to end Bordeaux's European winning streak - and re-establish itself as the top club in France - when the two clubs meet Tuesday in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals.

"We'll be at home and it will be up to us to go and get a good result," Lyon goalkeeper Hugo Lloris said ahead of the Champions League's first all-French encounter. "We will have to score a goal or two and not concede any. We will have to take measured risks."

Bordeaux is the only undefeated team in this year's Champions League and has won its last seven matches. Its best showing in Europe's top competition was in 1985, when it made it to the semifinals but lost 3-2 on aggregate to eventual champion Juventus.

"We will face a very good team, Bordeaux, which is tough to handle," Lyon playmaker Miralem Pjanic told L'Equipe TV. "We know what to expect. We won't underestimate them. Just because we beat Real Madrid (in the previous round), it doesn't mean we'll beat Bordeaux, too."

Pjanic, the club's top scorer in the Champions League with four goals, will lead a Lyon attack comprising Argentine forward Lisandro Lopez, Brazilian winger Michel Bastos, France international Sidney Govou and Bafetimbi Gomis. They have to crack the tightest defense in the Champions League - Bordeaux has conceded only three goals in eight matches and has the highest number of clean sheets with five. Both teams are seeking to become the first French club since Monaco in 2004 to make it to the Champions League semifinals.

Lyon goes into the match on the back of a 2-0 win over Grenoble in the French league, while Bordeaux lost 3-1 to Marseille in Saturday's League Cup final.

"It would have been better to win before preparing for a Champions League match," Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc said. "We'll have to bounce back quickly. Somehow it's a good thing. If we had to wait a week to play again, we would dwell on that defeat. But here we won't have time for that."

Lyon was the dominant club in France this decade, winning the league title seven times in a row before Bordeaux unseated it last season. Bordeaux beat Lyon 1-0 at Stade Gerland in December, the clubs' only meeting so far this season, and leads the French league with 56 points. Lyon is in fifth place with 54 points, and has played two more games than Bordeaux.

Lyon president Jean-Michel Aulas admitted that his club's domestic supremacy depended on winning in Europe.

"We will have to show through Tuesday's match that today's big French club is Lyon," Aulas said.

Absences could play a key role. Bordeaux will miss captain Alou Diarra, who is suspended for the first leg, and the injured Marc Planus. Blanc fielded his best outfield lineup for the League Cup final, only withdrawing France playmaker Yoann Gourcuff and top-scorer Marouane Chamakh when Marseille took a 2-0 lead midway through the second half.

"I had several options and I chose one," Blanc said of his decision. "We'll see Tuesday if I was right or not. But when you lose, you are never right."

Meanwhile, Lyon coach Claude Puel rested Govou and Kim Kallstrom against Grenoble, while Cesar Delgado, Lopez and Pjanic only made second-half appearances.

Lyon center back Jean-Alain Boumsong, who injured his calf in the second leg against Real Madrid, was not in the squad for the Grenoble match and is doubtful for Tuesday.

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