Christophe Galtier urges Lille players to show courage against Chelsea

Lille boss Christophe Galtier insists his side will hold no fear of Chelsea when the two sides meet in a crunch Champions League clash on Wednesday night. 

Both sides head into the Group H game in need of victory having lost their opening game. 

Chelsea arrive in France following a home defeat by Valencia, while Lille were beaten 3-0 by Ajax in their first Champions League match since 2012-13. 

The Lille manager has encouraged his players to show courage in the Champions League

Frank Lampard’s young side are in transition but Chelsea boast a rich record at home and in Europe, while the French side have only reached the knockout stages once in their history. 

Speaking before the game, however, Galtier said his side will not be ‘impressed’ by Chelsea or the Premier League. Instead, he wants Lille to have the courage to play against a team who only picked up their first clean sheet of the season last weekend. 

‘Everything can be a handicap – our experience, the league where the opponents play, but we shouldn’t really prepare for the match with negative aspects,’ he said. 

Lille have had a solid, but unspectacular, start to the season and are in need of a big victory

‘I’m convinced we can play, create offensive situations and my young team can step up physically and that’s how I have prepared them to play. 

‘Let’s play the way we know how, with young players who are physically ready and technically very good. We have to give it 100 per cent from the first to the 90th minute. 

‘We won’t be impressed by our opponents (and) the championship they’re involved in, this won’t stop us from playing our game. We have our own experience and we should play with our own strengths and that’s what we will do.’ 

When asked about where his side can hurt the visitors on Wednesday, Galtier remained tight-lipped, insisting: ‘Let Chelsea analyse us and the way we play.’ 

Lille have a number of players familiar with English football in their ranks. Loic Remy made 47 appearances for Chelsea, while Jose Fonte and Renato Sanches have also both enjoyed spells in the Premier League. 

Galtier hailed Remy and Swansea flop Sanches as ‘very good players’ who could be ‘very useful’ for his team. 

There will be some familiar faces to Chelsea fans with former striker Loic Remy now at Lille

Midfielder Jonathan Bamba, meanwhile, said Lille are well aware of Chelsea’s threats – but that the French side are relishing the challenge. 

‘We know they didn’t have a good start, however this is a team that scores a lot in the Premier League,’ he said. 

‘We are definitely lacking goals but we also need to be efficient – not only in attack but also in defence to stop Chelsea’s assaults.’ 

He added: ‘I’m very enthusiastic and excited. We really want to play in these games, this the reason why we want to play.’