Benfica ready for Paris finale

SL Benfica take on Group C winners Paris Saint-Germain in Lisbon knowing their qualifying fate is out of their hands.

• The Portuguese side are in third place, level with Olympiacos FC on seven points, but behind on head-to-head record, meaning the Greek side will go through if they defeat bottom side RSC Anderlecht at home. Benfica must better whatever result Olympiacos manage in Piraeus to go through.

• Paris recorded a 3-0 victory in the 2 October meeting between the sides, Zlatan Ibrahimović scoring twice and Marquinhos getting the other in the opening 30 minutes.

• Benfica had started with a 2-0 home victory over Anderlecht and on matchday three played out a 1-1 draw with Olympiacos before Rodrigo's 90th-minute winner at Anderlecht last time out revived their qualifying hopes.

• The French side began with a 4-1 win at Olympiacos and on matchday three continued their scoring spree in a 5-0 triumph – their biggest European away victory – at Anderlecht in which Ibrahimović scored four. Paris also benefited from a late winner on matchday five, Edinson Cavani earning a 2-1 success against Olympiacos to secure first place.

• Ibrahimović took his tally to eight goals in this season's competition on matchday five, equalling the group stage record held by Ruud van Nistelrooy (2004/05), Filippo Inzaghi and Hernán Crespo (both 2002/03) and matched by Cristiano Ronaldo this season.

Previous meetings
• The teams met three seasons ago in the UEFA Europa League round of 16 when Benfica won 2-1 at home and then successfully defended their lead in a 1-1 draw at Parc des Princes.

• The Lisbon club had come from behind in the first game after Péguy Luyindula (14) opened the scoring. They levelled through Maxi Pereira (42) with Franco Jara (81) scoring the winner.

• Benfica increased that advantage in France with Nicolás Gaitán's 27th-minute strike and although Mathieu Bodmer's 35th-minute volley brought the scores level on the night, Jorge Jesus' men went through.

• The lineups in Lisbon on 10 March 2011 were:
Benfica: Roberto, Luisão, Maxi Pereira, Sidnei, Coentrão, Salvio, Javi García, Gaitán (Aimar 71), Martins (César Peixoto 85), Saviola, Cardozo.
Paris: Apoula, Armand, Ceará, Makonda (Makhedjouf 75), Camara, Bodmer (Kebano 70), S Traoré, Nenê, Chantôme, Erdinç (Giuly 68), Luyindula (Maurice 44).

• The sides' only other fixtures came in the 2006/07 UEFA Cup round of 16, Fernando Santos' Benfica losing 2-1 away to Paul Le Guen's Paris, but prevailing with a 3-1 victory in Lisbon. Simão's 89th-minute penalty proved decisive following Youssuf Mulumbu's dismissal for a foul on Léo in the box.

• Benfica's 25 games against French sides have ended W12 D6 L7 (W8 D4 L0 at home). Before the matchday two defeat they had won four of their previous five European matches against Ligue 1 opposition.

• In last season's UEFA Europa League round of 16 a 1-0 home win over FC Girondins de Bordeaux was followed by a 3-2 win away.

• Paris went down 1-0 at FC Porto in last season's group stage but won the return 2-1 to claim first place in the section. They faced the same side in the 2004/05 group stage, drawing 0-0 in Portugal and winning 2-0 at home.

• Their other two matches in Portugal came in the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League, beating SC Braga 1-0 in a round of 16 encounter on 19 March 2009 to go through by the same aggregate score. They lost 1-0 at Boavista FC in the 2002/03 third round after a 2-1 win in the home leg. Home and away against Portuguese teams, Paris' record is W6 D3 L4.

Match background
• Benfica, in their ninth UEFA Champions League campaign and on a run of eight unbeaten home games in Europe – it was seven successive wins before the 1-1 draw with Olympiacos – have only progressed to the knockout rounds once in their last five participations, reaching the 2011/12 quarter-finals.

• Last season Benfica finished third in their group. At home they lost 2-0 to FC Barcelona before beating FC Spartak Moskva 2-0 and Celtic FC 2-1. The Portuguese side subsequently entered the UEFA Europa League and won all four home games en route to the final, where they lost 2-1 to Chelsea FC.

• In the UEFA Champions League for the sixth time, Paris progressed to the quarter-finals last season where they lost to FC Barcelona on away goals. In addition to the defeat at Porto, the French team beat both GNK Dinamo Zagreb and FC Dynamo Kyiv on their travels 2-0 and drew 1-1 at Barcelona.

• The Ligue 1 champions also won away in the round of 16, 2-1 at Valencia CF, with the home leg ending 1-1.

Team ties
•Jorge Jesus faced Paris in the 2008/09 UEFA Europa League while in charge of SC Braga, losing 1-0 on aggregate in the round of 16.

• Gaitán, Ezequiel Garay, Eduardo Salvio and Enzo Peréz have played alongside Javier Pastore and Ezequiel Lavezzi for Argentina.

• Luisão played alongside Thiago Silva and Alex in two friendlies for Brazil in 2006 and 2011 respectively.

• Maxwell and Luisão were team-mates at Cruzeiro EC in 2000/01.

• Nemanja Matić played with Alex at Chelsea in 2009/10.