Blanc's Bordeaux look for lift-off

FC Girondins de Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc is hoping for a pre-season lift when his side take on champions Olympique Lyonnais in the Trophée des Champions on Saturday.

Trophy quest
Lyon may have won the Ligue 1 curtain-raiser for six successive years but Bordeaux intend to end that sequence at the Stade Chaban-Delmas. "Anything that we can take off Lyon, especially a trophy, is good for us," said Blanc, who is targeting his first silverware as a coach. His opposite number Claude Puel, who replaced Alain Perrin at Lyon in June, could become the first trainer to land the Trophée des Champions with two different clubs, having won it in 2000 with AS Monaco FC.

Good preparation
Blanc can consider himself fortunate even to be contesting this prize. The match traditionally pits champions against cup winners, which in both cases last season was Lyon – the Stade Gerland team having won the double for the first time in their history. The previous occasion a club won the double, AJ Auxerre in 1996, the match was cancelled, prompting Puel to say: "I wonder if it's worth playing this match." Yet with Ligue 1 runners-up Bordeaux providing the opposition, he added: "It will be an excellent warm-up game at least."

Lyon beaten
Both sides have contested five pre-season friendlies ahead of the big kick-off next weekend. Lyon have won three but were beaten 1-0 at home by AS Monaco FC on Wednesday; Bordeaux have won two of their matches. Les Marine et Blanc last featured in the Trophée des Champions in 1999, as league champions, but lost to FC Nantes Atlantique.