Monaco drum up support for Lille visit
PARIS - Brief news from Ligue 1 ahead of this weekend's matches.
Relegation-threatened Monaco, a point from the safety zone with nine games left, need all the support they can get for the visit of league leaders Lille on Saturday.
The supporters' club has put out a rallying cry "appealing to the whole Monaco community to support the team unconditionally" while president Etienne Franzi has been at training to rally the players despite the big task ahead.
"They (Lille) are currently the best team in the league, it will be very tough," he told reporters.
Monaco will be without at least five players through injury, including midfielder Mahamadou Diarra, while Lille have a full squad to choose from as they go in search of a fifth straight victory in the league.
Paris Saint-Germain have no option but to win at Caen on Saturday if they are to have any chance of a Champions League qualifying spot after a bad run, Ludovic Giuly said.
"Victory is obligatory if we want to target third spot," the midfielder told reporters. PSG are in fifth place, five points behind Stade Rennes in third.
Second-placed Olympique Marseille host Toulouse on Sunday aiming to trim Lille's four-point lead with Andre-Pierre Gignac looking to impress against his old team.
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"We are not going to Marseille to lie down (but) Gignac will want to do well against us," Toulouse coach Alain Casanova told a news conference after characterising the inconsistencies across Ligue 1 this term.
"This championship is a bit mad," he said.
Girondins Bordeaux coach Jean Tigana has not given up hope of his eighth-placed side breaking into the Europa League places but he is already planning for next season ahead of Sunday's game at home to all-but-relegated AC Arles-Avignon.
"We are in the process of organising friendlies and training camps. Everything is falling into place nicely," he told reporters.
Olympique Lyon midfielder Kim Kallstrom still cannot believe his side conceded twice in injury time to draw 2-2 with Nice last weekend and slip further in the title race.
"We deserved to win 100 percent," the Swede told reporters before looking forward to Sunday's home match with struggling Racing Lens.
"This week we have worked well, training has been top quality."
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