Garcia backing Lille young guns to shine

Lille coach Rudi Garcia says he believes his younger players can perform against BATE Borisov in the UEFA Champions League.

Despite sitting firmly at the bottom of Group F without a point to their name, French outfit Lille are still looking to mount a challenge for the Europa League spot and will be looking to the less-experienced members of the squad to get a result.

“I trust the young players,” Garcia told the UEFA website.

“They are very enthusiastic and can get the result we expect from them.

“Some players stayed back in France because of injuries and the others, like Mathieu Debuchy, need a rest after a busy period.

“The main thing is to give it our best. BATE are a strong team, as they showed when they scored three goals before half-time in Lille in the first game. We had a better second half in that game and we hope to carry on where we left off.

On the topic of the 2010/11 Ligue 1 champions’ disappointing efforts so far in Europe, Garcia refused to rule out their evaporating hopes of making it into the Europa League by finishing third in Group F.

“We played to win from the very first game, but have failed to pick up any points,” he said.

“I hope to see a different result tomorrow. We are interested in getting into the Europa League, the situation is difficult but we will try to improve it. We have to score goals and do not need to think about anything else.”

Bayern Munich and Valencia share the lead in Group F on nine points apiece and meet at Estadio Mestalla on Tuesday.

BATE are third on six points, with Lille bringing up the rear after failing to register so much as a single point in four matches played to date.