Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc has called on his players to display their resilience against Roma as both clubs look to recover from opening-night defeats in Group A.
Blanc was disapointed by the passive nature of their performance during the 4-0 to Chelsea and has warned his players against a repeat performance.
“When you play teams that are technically better than you, you have to show controlled aggression,” the former France captain said. “When you stand off players like Frank Lampard and Joe Cole, you lose. If we allow the Roma players time, we’ll have the same problem.
“The boys all want to do well but motivation on its own is not enough. It’s one of several ingredients you need and it’s the easiest one to acquire, because if you’re not motivated for the Champions League you never will be. We’ll also need to concentrate, impose ourselves physically and avoid making technical mistakes.”
Blanc will be without captain Ulrich Rame who suffered a groin tear in the 1-1 draw with St Etienne at the weekend. The experienced goalkeeper should be replaced by Mathieu Valverde. With Wendel and Alou Diarra returning from domestic bans, Blanc is expected to revert to a five-man midfield.
“We’re not dreamers,” the 42-year-old declared. “We have to take Roma’s quality into account.”
For their part, Roma enjoyed an impressive 2-0 weekend success against Atalanta, although Luciano Spalletti’s side have endured a troubled start to their campaign. Tenth in Serie A, they were humbled 2-1 by debutants CFR Cluj on Matchday 1.
“It’s an extremely important match for both teams, because whichever loses will be left with a mountain to climb,” said Spalletti.
Roma captain Francesco Totti is out with a knee injury while midfielder David Pizarro has suffered a thigh problem and Julio Baptista is an unlikely starter having just returned to training after a similar injury.
“I feel we’ve been on the right track for three or four games,” Spalletti said. “We have a team capable of winning here.”
