Deschamps delight at Gallic glory

By Matthew Spiro in Monaco

AS Monaco FC coach Didier Deschamps claimed that his side's 1-0 victory against FC Lokomotiv Moskva has marked a resurgence in French football, as the principality club joined Olympique Lyonnais in the last eight of the UEFA Champions League.

Growing strength
It is six years since a French side last reached the quarter-finals, but after Lyon's success against Real Sociedad de Fútbol on Tuesday, Monaco ensured that France would have two representatives this season. Deschamps believes the results are a sign of the growing strength of French clubs. "It is a fantastic achievement for us and for Lyon," he declared. "Now we have to make sure we do it season after season.

New format
"The big difference between this season and last is that both us and Lyon have managed to keep all our top players and made quality additions such as Fernando Morientes and Giovane Elber." The former France captain did, however, admit that the new competition format favoured his team. "We still don't have as big a squad as the very top clubs in Europe," he said. "I think that if we had two group stages it would have been too hard for us because there are so many matches."

Pršo relieved
Dado Pršo's strike after an hour of play at the Stade Louis II levelled the tie at 2-2 on aggregate, enabling Monaco to qualify thanks to their away goal in Moscow. The Croatian international, who joins Roy Makaay at the top of the Champions League scoring charts with six goals, had a penalty saved by Sergei Ovchinnikov in the 20th minute and was a relieved man at the final whistle. "I'm through with penalties," Pršo said with a wry smile. "I didn't really want to take that one and I won't be taking them in future."

'Determined to score'
Indeed Pršo was in reflective mood and even claimed that the twists and turns of the match bore a close resemblance to his life. "Nothing's ever come easy for me in life," he explained. "I've always had to suffer in order to succeed and tonight was no different. Luckily for me and for Monaco I never give up. I was so determined to score to make up for my mistake."

Zikos confidence
Lokomotiv were forced to switch to a more defensive gameplan shortly after Pršo's missed penalty when playmaker Dmitri Loskov was sent off for a second bookable offence. But Monaco midfield player Andreas Zikos told uefa.com he was never in any doubt that his side would score: "The penalty knocked us out of our stride a bit. But we never panicked and in the second half we were playing good football again. I have confidence in our attackers and I was always sure we would succeed."

Chance wasted
Meanwhile, Lokomotiv coach Yuri Semin was left to rue missed chances in the first leg. "We've had a good campaign and I am sad that it is over," he said. "We had a chance to beat this Monaco team but that chance was in the first leg. We should have scored more than two goals then, because it was always going to be tough to defend a 2-1 lead away from home."

Credit to Monaco
Semin was gracious in defeat, congratulating Monaco and refusing to use the sending off of Loskov as an excuse. "I think my players lost their heads a bit after the red card," he went on. "But even before we went down to ten men we were struggling to get to grips with Monaco so you have to give them credit."