Patrick Vieira laid out his thoughts on his OGC Nice side ahead of Thursday's UEFA Europa League opener with Bayer Leverkusen (kick-off 6.55pm CEST).

Like Le Gym, Leverkusen like to have possession. What kind of game do you expect?

We have to try and impose our style of play, have possession of the ball, go forward to cause them problems and win the ball back as high up the pitch as possible. We're going to stay true to our identity and style of play. It's going to be difficult, because they're a good team and are very aggressive in their pressing, but we have the quality to play the ball out from the back. We'll have to link up well and cause Leverkusen problems."

'PLAY AND ENJOY OURSELVES'

After playing with three centre-backs against Saint-Etienne, how will you approach this game tactically?

I was quite happy with the backline agianst Saint-Etienne. Given our opponents, we have to be able to know how to use a formation with the aim of having the ball and controlling the match. What's encouraging is that the players can adapt to the two systems, feel good playing either of them, and that they understand what I'm looking for. It can also cause your opponents problems if you change systems during a game.

DOLBERG, ATAL AND CLAUDE-MAURICE BACK IN TRAINING

Is Le Gym now sufficiently well equipped to play twice a week?

The club is growing year on year. When you see the trajectory, it's positive. The foundations are being put in place, and if it continues like this every year, then the club will find itself in European competition as often as possible. That's the objective. We have to play and enjoy ourselves, because we all want to do well, to represent the region, the club and French football. Though it's true we'll be under some pressure, we have a good hand to play because we have a competitive team.

How are Kasper Dolberg, Youcef Atal and Alexis Claude-Maurice, who are all back in the squad?

Kasper feels a lot better and trained with the squad yesterday. Youcef and Alexis also trained and felt good. They'll be in the squad and will be in contention for a starting role. We'll take a decision tomorrow.

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