Paris Saint-Germain coach Carlo Ancelotti believes that last night's victory over Bastia will breed confidence ahead of their Champions League encounter in Valencia.
Goals from Jeremy Menez, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Ezequiel Lavezzi saw Les Parisiens overcome the Corsican outfit and extend their lead at the top of Ligue 1 to six points.
Ancelotti rested a number of his first-team stars with one eye on Tuesday's last-16 clash, but said that it was vital to avoid injuries.
"We won and took three points, which was our goal," France Football quotes Ancelotti as saying. "The other teams have to play now, for us, the important thing was to have continuity in the results.
"[We] can go to the next match in the Champions League confident. This is good preparation for the players. We have the time to prepare for the meeting physically and mentally.
"It was not difficult to convince Ibra to stay on the bench. He understood, as did [Blaise] Matuidi and [Mamadou] Sakho. There is always the risk of injury and the idea was to avoid it."
Second-placed Lyon can close the gap back to three points when they take on Lille this evening.