Liverpool v Sion background

Liverpool FC picked up a point on matchday one and can seize top spot in UEFA Europa League Group B if they record a second home success against FC Sion.

Previous meetings
• Roy Evans' Liverpool eliminated Alberto Bigon's Sion in the 1996/97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup second round, winning 2-1 in Switzerland and 6-3 at Anfield.

• Sion were the first visiting team to score three times in a European fixture at Anfield; only FC Barcelona (1-3, 2001), Chelsea FC (1-3, 2009), Udinese Calcio (2-3, 2012) and Real Madrid CF (0-3, 2014) have done so since.

• The teams for Sion's last visit on 31 October 1996 were:
Liverpool: James, Scales (Redknapp 60), McAteer, Babb, McManaman, Fowler, Barnes, Berger, Thomas, Bjørnebye, Matteo.
Sion: Lehmann, Gaspoz (Bühlmann 75), Quentin, Wicky, Vercruysse, Bonvin (Vincze 75), Chassot, Sylvestre, Colombo, Lonfat (Zambaz 46), De Sousa.

• Those were Sion's only previous games against English opponents.

Form guide
• Liverpool's 12 matches against Swiss sides have ended W6 D4 L2 (W3 D3 L0 at Anfield – W3 D1 L2 in Switzerland). Their last three home games against Swiss outfits ended in draws, most recently 1-1 against FC Basel 1893 in last season's UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Sion are without a win in six European away trips (D3 L3 – including a 3-0 default defeat at Celtic FC) – a run which stretches back to a 1-0 triumph at TPS Turku in the UEFA Intertoto Cup in June 1998.

• Liverpool made it through to the knockout phase in both of their previous UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns – 2010/11 and 2012/13.

• Sion are featuring in the group stage of a major UEFA competition for the first time.

Trivia and links
• The journey from Sion to Liverpool is just shy of 1,100km.

• Liverpool's Brazilian international Roberto Firmino turns 24 the day after the Sion game.

• Sion left-back Reto Ziegler spent several seasons in England with Tottenham Hotspur FC, and also played on loan at Wigan Athletic FC. He appeared in three games against Liverpool: two draws with Spurs and a 1-0 loss with Wigan. He scored in a penalty shoot-out for the north Londoners against the Reds and registered his only league goal for Spurs versus Liverpool's neighbours, Everton FC.

• Sion's Montenegrin international defender Elsad Zverotić was also in England with Fulham FC up until the summer.

• Sion winger Geoffrey Mujangi Bia played on loan with English sides Wolverhampton Wanderers FC and Watford FC earlier in his career.

The coaches
• Liverpool manager since 2012, Northern Irishman Brendan Rodgers established his reputation as a youth coach, notably at Chelsea, before successfully striking out alone at Swansea City AFC, where he won promotion to the Premier League in 2011.

• A UEFA Cup finalist with FC Girondins de Bordeaux in 1996, French striker Didier Tholot ended his playing career as player-coach at Sion and took charge of the club for a third time in 2014. He led Sion to Swiss Cup success in 2009 in his second spell and won that trophy again last term.

• Tholot briefly played lower-league football in England with Walsall FC in 1998.