LILLE coach Rudi Garcia has called on his side to show some St Etienne spirit in their Europa League last-16 first-leg tie against Liverpool tonight.
Having dismissed Liverpool’s defeat at Wigan on Monday as a “more-than-average performance” Garcia said he hoped his club would write their own history against the five-time European champions.
And he used St Etienne’s 1-0 European Cup quarter-final home first-leg victory over the Reds in 1977 (they went on to lose 3-2 on aggregate in a famous night at Anfield) as a motivating factor.
“Liverpool are a big team and big teams are always there,” said Garcia.
“We cannot under-estimate them but we’ll see if they perform again like they did against Wigan. It will be difficult (for us) after this more-than-average game they had against Wigan.
“Liverpool are probably the most legendary team in England, but then again maybe we have to write our own story.”
