Skip to main content

Previews: Bordeaux ready for title tilt

Girondins Bordeaux will be almost at full strength when they visit strugglers Caen with the Ligue 1 title within their grasp. Coach Laurent Blanc will only be missing suspended wing back Matthieu Chalme.

Brazilian midfielder Wendel was back in training earlier than expected this week. The club had said he would miss the rest of the season when he injured a knee in late April.

A US. official who is in France preparing President Barack Obama's visit next week has been hospitalised with swine flu, French officials said. She is part of an official delegation preparing the D-Day ceremonies in Normandy.

Only a win against mid-table AJ Auxerre could help second-from-bottom Nantes stay in the top flight on goal difference, while St Etienne's fate also depends on rivals' results.

"Whatever happens, we will be happy with our season," Senegalese forward Mamadou Niang told reporters.

"But if we fail to win against Rennes and Bordeaux lose, it would be terrible. That is the situation we absolutely want to avoid," he added.

"I knew him and I knew he would not help me defend the club's best interests. He is always trying to swear allegiance to the powerful but I had no idea how much I would be handicapped by his incompetence and mediocrity," the usually quiet-spoken Le Guen told daily L'Equipe on Friday.