A severely weakened Bordeaux side managed to progress to the group stages of the UEFA Cup after holding Tampere United to a one-all draw in France in the second leg of their tie. Bordeaux, who had scored twice in stoppage time in the first leg to give themselves a crucial advantage, were never really in trouble with Chamakh steering them into a lead early in the second half. Their Finnish opponents replied immediately however through Ojanpere but never really threatened further goals.

Bordeaux manager Laurent Blanc was cautious with his team selection ahead of this Sunday’s crunch league fixture with Olympique Lyon. The Girondins boss elected to play a 4-4-2 formation with Chamakh and Cavenaghi in attack, the latter being a two goal hero in the miraculous comeback only a fortnight earlier. Alou Diarra played his first non-league game for Bordeaux, producing a solid performance at the heart of midfield despite being without usual comrade Fernando Menegazzo, who was rested. Diarra was the solid central foundation that his side needed to defend solidly. Tampere travelled to the west of France more in hope than expectation despite their excellent showing in Finland. There were two changes to their starting eleven with Nwoke and Niemi both on from the start.

Straight from kick-off it was evident who the team in the ascendancy would be as Bordeaux pressed from the off, Obertan and Cavenaghi combining impressively before the midfield snapped his shot over the bar. After twenty minutes the same players combined to come close again but there was little other goalmouth action in a first half that was played at a pedestrian pace. Obertan was having a field day however and again came close before the interval while Planus also had a fine effort on goal as the home side remained utterly dominant. The first action of the second half was for Bordeaux to open the scoring; again the danger came down the right hand side of the field, where Obertan had reeked so much first-half havoc. It was not the young midfielder who provided the killer ball although it was his full-back, Jurietti; a precise near-post cross converted by the Moroccan. As suddenly as the lead had arrived it was lost; Ojanpera converting after Rame had blocked an initial foray into the Bordeaux box. This was not to be the beginning of a memorable comeback as Bordeaux quickly shut down their opponents and were by far the more dangerous side in the remaining forty minutes; Cavenaghi quickly reasserting the home side’s presence with a shot that zipped narrowly wide while Ducasse and Micoud did likewise quickly afterwards. Nineteen minutes from the end Bregerie was denied by a superb Kaven save; the last real action of the match.

Bordeaux will have been happy enough to comfortably qualify after a traumatic first leg in Finland. Laurent Blanc can now focus on Sunday’s league meeting with Olympique Lyon with a relatively fresh squad of players. As for Tampere, they can consider themselves unlucky however they did not have the class of their opponents. They will have gathered much experience and can be pleased with a very creditable showing.