Baptism of fire awaits heralded saviour

Of the 16 coaches preparing their sides for Champions League games this week, none has had as little time to ready his side as Paris Saint Germain's Luis Fernandez.

Until late last Saturday night, the 41year-old former French international Fernandez had been expecting to watch his old club's difficult away tie against Turkish champions and UEFA Cup holders Galatasaray on television.

Last Saturday, of course, PSG slumped to a humiliating 5-1 defeat away to little Sedan. That result rounded off a miserable recent run which has seen PSG pick up only one point from their last six league games while, furthermore, they have now gone eight matches without a win.

Saturday's defeat prompted a night of the long knives at the Parisian club which resulted in the sacking of coach Philippe Bergeroo and the appointment of Fernandez. The arrival of Fernandez, who met with the PSG players for the first time yesterday, is hardly a surprise.

The career of 60-times capped Fernandez has been intimately linked with PSG. He played for the club for eight seasons, helping them win their first title in 1986, while he returned to the club as coach from 1994 to 1996, leading them to their first and thus far only European success, the 1996 Cup Winners' Cup.

It was PSG's good luck and Bergeroo's misfortune that Fernandez just happened to be free and available. After four successful seasons as coach with Spain's Athletic Bilbao, Fernandez had opted to take a break from coaching last summer.

Those of us fortunate enough to recall the great French side of the '80s in which Fernandez had a key role alongside Michel Platini, Jean Tigana and Alain Giresse already know much about his fiery, competitive, combative temperament.

While his more technically endowed companions turned on the "style", Fernandez would get stuck in, providing indispensable backbone.

As a coach, his attitude appears to be much the same, be it with Cannes (1992 to 1994), PSG or Bilbao. A couple of years ago, after watching television footage of himself during a game with Athletic Bilboa, Fernandez suggested that he might not coach for much longer.

Having watched his passionate and energetic self bound up and down the touchline like a man possessed, Fernandez confessed that he feared for his own health if he stayed at the job.

Last weekend, however, his competitive instincts and his sense of old loyalties got the better of his sense of self-preservation. As he prepares for tomorrow night's tie in Galatasaray's Ali Sami Yen stadium in Istanbul, Fernandez could be forgiven for wishing for an easier start.

Fernandez, though, believes a squad including Nicolas Anelka in attack, Nigerian Jay-Jay Okocha in midfield and captain Eric Rabesandratana in defence should be doing better.

"The players have lost their confidence," Fernandez said, "but they're young and have a lot of talent and promise. I'm confident in them, though, and confident in my abilities."

Now that is something we never doubted - Luis Fernandez's abilities and his own confidence in them. Watch out for a surprise result in Istanbul.