Bordeaux football coach Laurent Blanc

Charismatic Laurent Blanc has labelled “mad” and “exciting” Bordeaux’s hectic February schedule in three competitions with thrashed Paris Saint Germain next up in the French League Cup semi-final on Wednesday.

Bordeaux thumped PSG 4-0 on January 11 in a Yoann Gourcuff-inspired exhibition culminating in four spectacular goals and coach Blanc claimed: “They’ll never play like that again.”

This time the teams meet in Paris with PSG fresh from shooting up from sixth to third in the league at the weekend and boardroom changes expected to have been settled Tuesday as club president Charles Villeneuve confirms his departure.

Blanc has given his side three days of rest, since Saturday’s 2-2 draw against Lille, which followed a spell of tough physical training, the last for some time as February will see the players recovering from match to match.

Bordeaux’s next French League match is on Sunday against Marseille, whose coach Eric Gerets called a “cup final,” then Bordeaux have a whole host of fixtures including the Feburary 18/26 UEFA Cup round of 32 match against Turks Galatasaray.

“February is just mad,” Blanc said about their congested fixture schedule and referring to PSG and Marseille games, added: “It’s exciting to play matches like that. It’s not easy though and you need a good squad.”

Some of Blanc’s players relished all the fixtures as something postive, Bordeaux Franck Jurietti claiming: “It’s better playing against Paris than having a friendly match behind closed doors on a synthetic surface,” and Brazilian Fernando adding: “When you have a 15-day break, there is a tendency to let things go a bit.”

Blanc has Moroccan striker Marouane Chamakh at his disposal again after the player sat out the Lille game suspended though Brazilian Jussie looks set to sit out the fixture with a left knee injury.

Of course, inspirational playmaker Gourcuff is expected to play, orchestrating things around the PSG penalty area.

PSG’s experienced midfielder Jerome Rothen is expected to make a return up the left flank having been out suspended for the Caen fixture.

Coach Paul Le Guen has a question mark over his striking duo, perhaps bringing in Serbian international Mateja Kezman alongside either Guillaume Hoarau or Peguy Luyindula who played together against Caen.

Kezman showed good recent form, scoring two goals against Ajaccio on January 25 in the French Cup.

The other semi-final, played earlier in the late afternoon, pits Nice against second division Vannes

Wednesday

French League Cup semi-finals

Nice v Vannes (1600GMT)

Paris Saint Germain v Bordeaux (1945GMT)