Lyon vs Ajax preview - Garde: It's all or nothing

Lyon coach Remi Garde admits his players are facing an uphill task in Tuesday's Champions League match against Ajax, with the Ligue 1 side in danger of going out of the competition.

Only a victory will do for Les Gones if they are to make it through to the last 16 for the ninth successive season.

Back-to-back defeats against Group D leaders Real Madrid have left them third in the standings, three points behind Ajax with just two rounds of fixtures remaining.

And Garde admits his team's performances have fallen below expectations so far.

"We have to beat Ajax," he said. "It's all or nothing.

"Our problem has not been our ambition, but our game.

"It's a different kind of competition on Tuesday (to Ligue 1) and sometimes we do not always have enough power in the Champions League."

Garde will have Dejan Lovren available for selection following a thigh injury, while Maxime Gonalons (calf) could also return.

Remy Vercoutre (foot), Anthony Lopes (ankle), John Mensah (calf) and Yannis Tafer (foot) are all long-term absentees.

A yellow card for Kim Kallstrom would see the Sweden midfielder supended for Lyon's final group match against Dinamo Zagreb.

Ajax coach Frank de Boer will be without Derk Boerrigter (back), Dmitri Bulykin (calf) and Kolbeinn Sigthorsson (ankle) for the trip to France.

Siem de Jong is also sidelined with a thigh injury.

The Amsterdam club did not have the ideal preparation for the match, throwing away a 2-0 lead against NAC Breda to draw 2-2 in the Eredivisie at the weekend.

But De Boer remains hopeful they can improve on that performance at the Stade Gerland.

"I saw a very good Ajax for 75 minutes," he said on www.ajax.nl. "We dominated, had chances and gave little away.

"But in the last 15 minutes we were careless and made the wrong decisions. At 2-0 up you think you are going to win, but it ended 2-2.

"Of course that hurts, not just for myself and the fans but also the players.

"But we will take on Lyon on Tuesday and we must build on the good things I saw against NAC."