FRANCE: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - Bordeaux seek a first Champions League quarter final appearance in over 22 years

Record ID: 566546

  • Title: FRANCE: FOOTBALL/SOCCER - Bordeaux seek a first Champions League quarter final appearance in over 22 years
  • Date: 18th March 2010
  • Summary: BORDEAUX, FRANCE (MARCH 16, 2010) (REUTERS) GIRONDINS DE BORDEAUX FOOTBALL TEAM TRAINING GOALKEEPER AT TRAINING VARIOUS OF BORDEAUX TEAM PASSING THE BALL NEWS CONFERENCE WITH BORDEAUX TEAM COACH LAURENT BLANC AND TEAM CAPTAIN ALOU DIARRA (SOUNDBITE) (French) GIRONDINS BORDEAUX TEAM COACH LAURENT BLANC, SAYING "I think that the fact of having scored one goal in the away game is an advantage. I think Olympiakos will have to take risks because Olympiakos have to score in Bordeaux if they want to qualify. So it is up to us to stay focused, to be disciplined and to be good in the defense." BLANC AND DIARRA AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (French) GIRONDINS BORDEAUX TEAM COACH LAURENT BLANC, SAYING "I will dare tell you that I hope that tomorrow my players will have found their competitive spirit which they have lacked since the start of the year. But paradoxically, in the Champions League they still have this spirit." VARIOUS OF OLYMPIAKOS TEAM AT TRAINING (SOUNDBITE) (Greek) OLYMPIAKOS COACH BOZIDAR BANDOVIC, SAYING "This game represents the second half, I think that Bordeaux have an advantage, but we will give everything we have to go through." OLYMPIAKOS TEAM TRAINING (SOUNDBITE) (French) JAOUAD ZAIRI, OLYMPIAKOS PLAYER, SAYING "If the players have a real will to win that game then everything is possible. We only have 90 minutes to get through this round and I think Olympiakos has the players to win tomorrow." MORE OF OLYMPIAKOS TRAINING
  • Embargoed: 2nd April 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: France
  • Country: France
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAAGY00H9YXAHRTWBGYYR9PQZ6N
  • Story Text: Bordeaux believes the away goal they scored at Olympiakos last month puts them in the prime position to win through to the quarter finals of the Champions League on Wednesday (March 17).
    The French team head into the second leg of their round of 16 tie against their Greek opponents with a one goal advantage after winning 1-0 in Athens on February 23rd.
    The result means Olympiakos must find the back of the net at Bordeaux in order to go through to the last eight.
    For Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc, the odds are stacks in his teams favour of advancing to their first quarter final since 1988.
    "I think that the fact of having scored one goal in the away game is an advantage," he told reporters on Tuesday (March 16).
    "I think Olympiakos will have to take risks because Olympiakos have to score if they want to qualify. So it is up to us to stay focused, to be disciplined and to be good in the defense."
    Bordeaux's domestic form of late has been poor with the Ligue 1 leaders held to a goaless draw at Monaco on Saturday (March 13th).
    But Blanc hoped things would be different on Wednesday.
    "I will dare tell you that I hope that tomorrow my players will have found their competitive spirit which they have lacked since the start of the year," he said.
    "But paradoxically, in the Champions League this spirit is still there."
    The Greek side are well aware of the difficult job in front of them, and while Bordeaux are heavily favoured to advance, Olympiakos could suprise.
    "This game represents the second half. I think that Bordeaux have an advantage but we will give everything we have to go through" said their coach Bozidar Bandovic.
    "If the players have a real will to win that game everything is possible," added Olympiakos' Moroccan international Jaouad Zairi.
    "We only have 90 minutes to get through this round and I think Olympiakos has the players to win tomorrow."
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