Paris Saint-Germain will look to pile more misery on Marseille coach Didier Deschamps when they travel south for the French Ligue 1 clash of the weekend at Stade Velodrome on Sunday.
Deschamps' side are struggling on all fronts, sitting 10th with a modest 18 points from 14 games, a massive 12 points behind big-spending PSG after falling at Montpellier last weekend through a Souleymane Diawara own goal.
And their European hopes are now hanging by a slender thread after Olympiakos dealt a blow to the 1993 champions' hopes of reaching the last 16 of the Champions League with a 1-0 win at Stade Velodrome in mid-week.
"It's been a very bad week," said Deschamps after Wednesday's match.
"I can't stand losing. We'll have to digest this and then we'll switch over to what's ahead of us."
The Parisians, reportedly in talks to sign former England captain David Beckham, will themselves be looking to get back on track after their hopes of a first league title in 18 years suffered a setback as they fell 1-0 at home to strugglers Nancy.
PSG star Javier Pastore said he was raring to "experience the passion" of his first 'Clasico' since signing from Palermo for a French record fee of 42 million euros this summer.
"Since I arrived, everyone has been telling me about this match," said the Argentine.
"A Clasico isn't about playing, it's about winning. Of course this match is an event in itself but the best way to approach it is to prepare normally.
"Like every week, we're training to the maximum to be ready and present on the day.
"The only way to get the machine started again and to satisfy the fans is to win in Marseille on Sunday. It's as simple as that."
In a Saturday's match, a hat-trick from newly capped France striker Olivier Giroud gave Montpellier a 3-1 win at Sochaux that provisionally took Rene Girard's side three points clear in the table.
Giroud toed home a goal-bound shot from John Utaka to put the visitors ahead in the 50th minute, but substitute Abdoul Camara appeared to have rescued a point for Sochaux when he prodded in an 84th-minute equaliser.
Giroud immediately restored Montpellier's lead with a clipped right-footed effort from the edge of the box, however, before completing his hat-trick by deftly lifting the ball past Sochaux goalkeeper Teddy Richert.
Giroud's triple also took the 25-year-old three goals clear of nearest rival Kevin Gameiro of Paris Saint-Germain at the top of the scoring charts.
Lyon travel to Auxerre on Sunday, having seen their hopes of reaching the Champions League last 16 all but extinguished by a goalless draw at home to Ajax, with Lorient hosting second-from-bottom Nice.
Sunday's Fixtures:
Lorient v Nice (1400GMT), Auxerre v Lyon (1400GMT), Marseille v Paris Saint-Germain (2000GMT)
Source: AFP
