French titans meet as Blanc laments French Euro showing

Lyon will have a good idea of whether they will carry off an eighth consecutive league crown after Sunday's home encounter with title rivals Marseille.

A win would take Claude Puel's side six points clear of the southerners yet Lyon know they are, in continental terms, up against the only side in France which has more European pedigree then they themselves do.

Lyon did at least warm up for Sunday's encounter at the Stade Gerland by becoming the only French name into the hat for the last 16 of the Champions League – fortunately they were able to shrug off a 3-2 home loss to group-toppers Bayern Munich.

In contrast, Marseille, bested by Liverpool, and Bordeaux, not good enough to overhaul Chelsea in their respective group pools, had to make do with berths in the UEFA Cup and the French sides are becoming only too well aware that their league has become a poor relation in European terms.

Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc recognised as much on Thursday.

“There were problems in teamwork, certainly, but also individual deficiencies which meant we were not able to go any further. You can get away with it in the French league but you are exposed once you get to the Champions League,” admitted the 1998 World Cup winner.

“Look at the 16 teams which qualified and — Panathinaikos apart — they are all among Europe's biggest clubs. It's not for nothing that no French club has won the Champions League for 15 years.” Marseille are the only French winner to date.

Lyon have never even made the semis for all their domestic domination.

“I'm not saying it's only money that matters in football but it helps an awful lot. All the clubs which qualified have a budget of at least 100 million euros (as opposed to Bordeaux's 70 million).”

Blanc, still cutting his teeth as a coach, could see his men go second if they can sneak a win at midtable Le Mans and will hope his strikeforce of David Bellion and Argentine Fernando Cavenaghi can come up with the goods.

Missing out on the Champions League would be a hammer blow to Bordeaux's ambitions of making a bigger impression next season and a top three finish is imperative.

Should Lyon fail to see off Marseille, it will become tighter than ever at the top and Eric Geret's visitors will smell blood against a side which has, following the Bayern defeat, not won in three outings.

Lyon's last two league outings resulted in a pale home draw against Valenciennes and then a shock loss to struggling Nantes. Just beforehand, Puel's side had gone down to Paris Saint Germain.

At least mercurial Brazilian midfielder Juninho will return from suspension – though he and clubmate Cris were in hot water Thursday after UEFA fined the pair for deliberately committing fouls to receive yellow cards in last month's 2-1 win at Fiorentina to ensure they would sit out the academic loss to Bayern rather than risk missing the knockout phase.

One man who will be anxious not to miss out Sunday is former Lyon favourite Hatem Ben Arfa, who made the switch to Marseille last summer and who chairman Pape Diouf lauded midweek as posessing “genius” in his boots.

The France star left Lyon after becoming frustrated at the amount of matches he started on the bench but he has blossomed since.

“He really fires up the dressing room,” says Marseille's Dutch winger Boudewijn Zenden of a player who can be a hothead but also a matchwinner.

Rennes, third in the table after a strong recent run which included a win over PSG and a draw in Bordeaux, can leapfrog Marseille if they beat Nantes on Saturday while the Parisians themselves, level with Bordeaux on points, will also covet second place at least overnight as they travel to Auxerre.

Nice and Toulouse, likewise chasing the Champions League dream, host Lille and St Etienne respectively.

St Etienne have moved out of the drop zone in the past ten days after wins over Nancy and Le Havre followed a run of seven straight losses as new coach Alain Perrin begins to weave some magic.

Fixtures (all times GMT):

Saturday

Le Mans v Bordeaux (1800)

Valenciennes v Monaco (1800)

Auxerre v Paris SG (1800)

Toulouse v St Etienne (1800)

Sochaux v Caen (1800)

Nancy v Grenoble (1800)

Rennes v Nantes (2000)

Sunday

Le Havre v Lorient (1700)

Nice v Lille (1700)

Lyon v Marseille (2000)