Lyon visit can inspire Dinamo to first points

A home game with Olympique Lyonnais provides an all-too-painful reminder of the 7-1 defeat GNK Dinamo Zagreb suffered at the hands of these opponents in 2011/12.

• The matchday one visit to Stade de Lyon brought another defeat, the French side winning 3-0 through Corentin Tolisso's early header and second-half goals from Jordan Ferrri and Maxwel Cornet.

• Without a point so far, Dinamo must win to keep their European hopes alive. A draw will be enough for Lyon to finish third in Group H and they could still qualify for the knockout rounds with a win.

Previous meetings
• Lyon won home and away against the Croatian side five years ago, first posting a 2-0 victory in France at their former home, Stade de Gerland.

• In Croatia, Dinamo had Jerko Leko sent off but took the lead through Mateo Kovačić before Bafétimbi Gomis got to work. He scored four and in the process claimed the fastest ever UEFA Champions League hat-trick in eight minutes either side of half-time as Lyon celebrated their biggest victory in the competition.

• Maxime Gonalons, Lisandro and Jimmy Briand also registered in the 7-1 win – Dinamo's biggest loss in the competition – to send Lyon through to the last 16. The Croatian side finished bottom of the group without a point.

• The line-ups on 7 December 2011 at Maksimir Stadium were: 
Dinamo: Kelava, Vrsaljko, Leko, Vida, Ibáñez, Badelj, Calello, Ademi, Kovačić (Pokrivač 80), Bećiraj (Šitum 55), Sammir (Alispahić 66). 
Lyon: Lloris, Dabo, B Koné, Lovren (Lisandro 54), Cissokho, Fofana, Gonalons, Briand, Gourcuff, Lacazette (Ederson 65), Gomis.

• Gomis also scored in the first game, as did Bakary Koné.

Match background

Dinamo
• The Croatian champions followed their matchday one defeat by going down 4-0 at home to Juventus. They then replaced coach Zlatko Kranjčar with Ivaylo Petev, the former Bulgaria trainer.

• Two more defeats followed against Sevilla, 1-0 at home and 4-0 away.

• Last season Dinamo ended a 16-year wait for a victory in the competition proper when they beat Arsenal FC 2-1 at home on matchday one. They lost both their other home matches, however, and all three away to finish bottom of Group F.

• Dinamo have failed to qualify from the group stage in all five previous attempts. In fact, in all 12 previous UEFA club competition group stages – including seven in the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League – they have yet to make it through to the next phase.

• Away form underpinned Dinamo's progress through this season's qualifying rounds. They prevailed 2-1 at FK Vardar in the second qualifying round (5-3 on aggregate) and 1-0 at FC Dinamo Tbilisi in the next stage (3-0 on aggregate).

• After a 1-1 draw at home to FC Salzburg in the play-offs they trailed in Austria until the 87th minute when Junior Fernandes forced extra time. El Arabi Hilal Soudani's strike then completed the victory.

• When Dinamo lost 2-0 at home to Paris Saint-Germain in the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League group stage it was their fourth successive loss on their own soil to Ligue 1 opponents. Home and away, they have now lost five in a row.

• They have not beaten a French side in 11 attempts, home or away, since overcoming AJ Auxerre 3-1 in the 1994/95 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup first round first leg in Zagreb. Overall their record is W3 D3 L10; at home it is W2 D0 L5.

Lyon
• The Ligue 1 runners-up followed their opening night success with a 1-0 defeat at Sevilla and in their double-header with Juventus they first lost 1-0 at home before drawing 1-1 in Italy. 

• In their 14th group stage campaign, Lyon are seeking to improve on last season when, returning to the UEFA Champions League after a three-year absence, they gained four points, the majority from a matchday six victory at Valencia CF with their place as Group H's bottom side already confirmed.

Coach and player links
• Davor Lovren is the brother of Dejan, who played for Lyon between 2010 and 2013.

• Played together:
Angelo Henríquez & Rafael (Manchester United FC 2012–2015)

• International team-mates:
El Arabi Hilal Soudani & Rachid Ghezzal (Algeria)
Paulo Machado & Anthony Lopes (Portugal)

• Paulo Machado played in France for AS Saint-Étienne in 2008/09 and for Toulouse FC between 2009 and 2012.    

Match facts

Dinamo
• Lovren, Borna Sosa and Petar Stojanovič serve one-match bans, while Josip Pivarić and Jonas will incur a suspension with their next booking.

• Dinamo had kept a clean sheet in each of their past six league games, winning the last four, before Friday's 1-1 draw at home to NK Istra 1961.

• Domagoj Antolić has not played since he sustained a left knee injury on matchday three.

Lyon
• Sergi Darder and Rafael are a booking away from a ban.

• Alexandre Lacazette has scored four goals, three of them penalties, in his last five appearances.

• Mathieu Valbuena returned to action in the 1-0 win at LOSC Lille on Friday after he sustained a shoulder injury during the 3-1 loss to EA Guingamp on 22 October.