A French doctor has warned players returning from the Africa Cup Of Nations that it may take seven to eight days for them to fully acclimatise to the cold snap that has gripped France this weekend.

Marseille take on Lyon at the Stade de Velodrome this evening with the temperature set to be around -4 degrees when the match kicks off at 9pm local time, however, Marseille players Souleymane Diawara and Charles Kabore as well as Lyon’s Bakary Kone have all returned from international duty at the Africa Cup Of Nations in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea, where games have been played in temperatures in excess of 30 degrees.

Montpellier defender Abdelhamid El Kaoutari withdrew from his side’s game with Brest on Saturday night,, which was played in a windchill of -9 and Dr Alain Simon told French newspaper L’Equipe that he was right to have done so.

“One cannot leave the Africa Cup Of Nations and expect to play immediately,” said Dr Simon, former team doctor to Paris Saint-Germain and the French national team. “You should gradually resume.”

The doctor added that the adjustment period from such extremes in temperature “may be seven to eight days.”

“Players have lost a lot of minerals. With the cold, they no longer have the same sensation of thirst and the danger is not to re-hydrate properly.

“The biggest risk is to the muscles because there was accumulation of matches in the Africa Cup Of Nations, thus there may be fatigue.

“In the heat, the muscle is looser and with the cold, it takes longer to warm up. The warm-up period should be longer and the players concerned must rest first.”

Dr Simon also had some advice to spectators: “”Let them watch the game on TV!” he laughed.

St Etienne’s game with Lorient was abandoned after just 10 minutes play due to a frozen pitch while Caen’s game with Auxerre today has already been postponed.

The cold snap has also affected Italy where the Cesena-Catania game was postponed on Saturday, while at the San Siro spectators arrived for AC Milan’s game with Napoli with the temperature at -3 degrees.