Girondins revolt leaves Blanc smiling

FC Girondins de Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc could only thank his players for disobeying him after they pulled out all the stops to conjure a last-gasp winner in Wednesday's 3-2 victory at Stade Rennais FC – a result that moved his team to within two points of Ligue 1 leaders Olympique de Marseille.

Gourcuff goals
The former French international's title contenders showed impressive resolve to recover from a number of setbacks during the game, starting with Romain Danzé's opener for Rennes with just 19 seconds on the clock – the fastest goal in France's top flight this term. Bordeaux then lost Marc Planus to a 27th-minute red card and, after taking a second-half lead through Yoan Gouffran and Yoann Gourcuff, were rocked again when Moussa Sow levelled for the hosts a minute from time. Despite that blow, however, Gourcuff kept Bordeaux's Ligue 1 challenge well and truly alive with a curled effort in off the post deep into stoppage time.

'All for it'
"We went through every emotion tonight, starting with pain and sadness," said Blanc, before adding with a smile: "At half-time I set my players a goal – I wanted them to go out with a good attitude and get us a draw. That seemed like a realistic target. I'm very disappointed because they didn't listen to me – they went out to get the win. Rennes then scored a minute from the end and it was a deserved equaliser given their pressure. After that, the players didn't listen to me because for our last goal we had four or five in the opposition area. They disobeyed me, but if the result is always the same then I'm all for it."

'Strong signal'
For the 43-year-old, who has been reluctant to talk up his side's championship prospects all season, that late strike indicated that his charges are determined to rein in Marseille with five games left. "Above all, the team don't want to give anything away and I think they sent out a strong signal to everyone tonight," he continued. "We're going to try to put space between ourselves and our pursuers and to catch the team in front of us. It won't be easy because there aren't many matches left and the current leaders have also shown an irreproachable attitude, but tonight's events have given us a huge morale boost for the future. Bordeaux can't afford the slightest slip-up now and we have to hope OM's opponents are strong enough to bring them down."