Zürich still the 'minnows' as Marseille visit

FCZürich would move six points ahead of Olympique de Marseille in UEFA Champions League Group C if they follow up their Matchday 2 win at AC Milan with a defeat of their French visitors, but home coach Bernard Challandes says his side are still the "minnows". Marseille's Didier Deschamps admits that after losing to Milan and Real Madrid CF, his team need to take maximum points from their encounters with the Swiss champions.

Quotes
Bernard Challandes, Zürich coach
Yes, it is a key game, but let's not mix the roles here. After the draw, we knew we were the minnows and we knew it would be difficult to get points and dream of qualification. Now we have won in Milan and people want to change these facts, but they haven't. Marseille remain the big team and us the small. We must not forget it. We have the ambition or the dream of winning. Milan was an achievement and we cannot do that every time. We know that a victory could be a big step towards third place, which means an unthinkable dream is now a dream.

Didier Deschamps, Marseille coach
After the draw, I said we would need six points against Zürich. I knew it would be so and after two defeats, this game has to allow us to keep our hopes alive. We need a good result but we know they won in Milan, played a good game against Madrid, scoring two goals, and we have a lot of respect for this team that are above us at the moment. I don't know if we are favourites, maybe the fact that Zürich were in the fourth seeding pot could allow us to say it, but you just have to look at the standings; they are ahead of us and won in Milan. This doesn't mean they are favourites but they are in a better position than us. Before the match you only think about winning and after the match you have to deal with what you have. If we draw we will have one point and Zürich four, which is not exactly good for us.

Weekend results
17/10/2009: FC Locarno 0-7 Zürich
(Alphonse 46 64, Vonlanthen 52, Schönbächler 59, Margairaz 67pen, Nikci 74pen, Abdi 90)

• Zürich had lost four of their last five games in all competitions prior to facing Locarno in the Swiss Cup round of 16.

• Four days after beating Milan, Zürich lost 3-2 at AC Bellinzona, their third successive Super League defeat.

• Zürich have only kept three clean sheets in their last ten games – against Milan, Locarno and in the last 32 of the Swiss Cup against FC Witikon on 19 September.

17/10/2009: AS Nancy-Lorraine 0-3 Marseille
(Valbuena 5, Brandão 78, Abriel 81)

• Mathieu Valbuena scored his first goal of the season in his first start as OM moved within three points of the Ligue 1 summit. Fabrice Abriel's late effort was his first since joining Marseille this summer.

• Marseille had lost their previous three games in all competitions.

• OM's first Ligue 1 defeat of the season, the loss to Valenciennes FC on 26 September, ended a run of eleven away matches unbeaten in the league.

Team news
Zürich
Out: Yassine Chikhaoui (knee), Martin Büchel (foot), Eric Hassli (rib, broken leg), Daniel Stucki (ankle)
Doubtful: none
Suspended: none
Misses next match if booked: Onyekachi Okonkwo

Marseille
Out: Julien Rodriguez (ankle), Cyril Rool (knee)
Doubtful: none
Suspended: Souleymane Diawara
Misses next match if booked: none

Background
• This is the second time Zürich have hosted a team from France in a competitive fixture having previously beaten Toulouse FC 2-0 at the Letzigrund Stadium in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup group stage.

• Marseille are unbeaten in their last five meetings with Swiss opponents, since losing their first fixture against a side from Switzerland, a 2-0 defeat at FC Sion in the 1994/95 UEFA Cup second round.

Did you know?
OM's reverse at the Santiago Bernabéu on Matchday 2 was their sixth successive away defeat in the UEFA Champions League proper since winning 1-0 at Liverpool FC in their first tie on the road in 2007/08.