On the eve of the Bordeaux game, Paul Le Guen talked about the weekend’s opponents, before discussing the return of Stéphane Sessegnon and Mamadou Sakho’s current situation…

Paul, what do you make of this Bordeaux team?
“Bordeaux finished second last season, just shy of the title. They’ve improved the quality of their squad over the summer. Les Bordelais are in a strong position, with the same solid foundations for the past three or four years. You can see they’re improving. Obviously they are very good, but I think we can also improve.”

And you have Stéphane Sessegnon available for this match…
“His return to the squad is a real positive. He’s capable of producing so much. He’s already shown it during pre-season. At the same time, one mustn’t expect too much, too quickly. The others playing like playing with him and you can see it on the field.”

Ahead of this first match at the Parc des Princes, have you thought about the difficulties you encountered here last season?
“It’s true that we struggled at home throughout the first half of last season. But we have to put it behind us. On Saturday, we play against Bordeaux, who are favourites, but we’ll be out there looking for a positive result.”

Do you think you’ll play the young defender Mamadou Sakho in defence?
“If I play him, it’s because I think he deserves to play. I have a defence and I try to play the strongest possible. During pre-season, and towards the end of last season, I thought he performed really well. Against Monaco there were one or two incidents he could have handled better, but it wasn’t easy for the goal they scored. Just because he’s 18-years-old doesn’t mean you can blame him for everything – or excuse him everything either. He needs to accept that. As soon as he’s not playing as well as a player we have on the bench, he’ll find himself out of the team.”