Coupe no joke for Garcia

Lille coach Rudi Garcia has promised to approach the Coupe de la Ligue quarter-final against Lyon seriously, despite other priorities.

Garcia’s side travel to face Lyon at the Stade Gerland on Wednesday, with a place in the last four of the second-tier competition up for grabs.

Lille are likely to have one eye on their Ligue 1 clash away to Marseille on Sunday, but Garcia insists Cup progression remains a target.

“We will go as far as we can … (but) for us, it cannot be an objective,” Garcia said.

“The Coupe de France or even the Coupe de la Ligue, it is too unpredictable, (it) depends on the draw.”

“You have to admit that playing in Lyon, it is not an easy draw.”

“We have to play with our qualities, to prevent them (Lyon) from playing their game, trying to play, break and to score goals.”

“The qualification (progression) will be decided on that, for sure.”

Lille captain Rio Mavuba echoed his coach’s sentiments, claiming the Lyon contest is at the forefront of the team’s thinking.

“We’re going to Lyon in order to qualify, it is clear we are only focused on this game, even though we know that we will play Marseille next,” Mavuba said.

“But it’s an important game in Lyon with a possibility of going to the semi-final, so we will do everything in order to win, it is absolutely certain.”

Defending the Ligue 1 crown is surely Lille’s biggest concern, but Mavuba feels the team should have no hesitation aiming for success in other competitons.

“We won a trophy last year, so … if we can play in the final and before in semi-finals, we would be fools not to take it,” he said.

“This is a very attractive competition and with the added bonus of automatic qualification for the Europa League but also it is quite simply a trophy.”

“I had the chance to win it with Bordeaux, it is perhaps less prestigious than the Coupe de France, but it’s always nice to win a trophy.”