Round of 16, second leg – Kick-off: 20-45 (CET)
First leg: Olympiakos 0-1 Bordeaux
Laurent Blanc has called on his Bordeaux side to “recover our spirit of 2009” ahead of the Champions League meeting with Olympiakos.
The French champions have the advantage following their 1-0 victory in Greece three weeks ago and Olympiacos’s run of just five wins in 13 outings is hardly daunting. Yet
“Olympiakos have to score to qualify,” said Blanc. “This is an advantage for us. We will try and score several goals then control the game. I have a lot of respect for [Olympiakos] but I want to beat them to go through to the next round. I think Bordeaux will make it.
“We need to be solid and I hope my players can recover the competitive spirit we’ve been lacking of late. Without that spirit we will have difficulties in this competition and Ligue 1.
“Since the end of 2009 Bordeaux have gone through some tough times, but thanks to our form before Christmas we’re still in the competition. I hope my players realise this bad patch has to stop. I expect a big match from my players. I want to recover our spirit of 2009 and keep it until the end of the season.”
Olympiakos coach Bozidar Bandovic believes that with the luck that deserted them in the first leg, his side could “be among the eight best teams in Europe” after tonight.
“The second half of this tie starts tomorrow,” he said. “Bordeaux are in front but we will give it our all to qualify. This game is very important because we could get into the quarter-finals, among the eight best teams in Europe.
“We were unlucky in the first leg. We created opportunities but simply could not score. It is now up to us to reverse the scoreline. We have to be balanced and strong. We need to work as a team to achieve anything here.”
