Lazio v St-Étienne background
Tuesday, September 22, 2015
Article summary
Lazio have not scored many in their last few European home games as they welcome a St-Étienne side in Group G making their 50th appearance in this competition.
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Article body
Low scorers in recent European home games, SS Lazio will hope to rediscover their touch in UEFA Europa League Group G as AS Saint-Étienne contest their 50th fixture in the competition.
Previous meetings
• The sides are meeting for the first time in UEFA competition.
• Lazio's 14 games against French clubs have ended W5 D3 L6 (W3 D2 L2 at home – W2 D1 L4 in France).
• St-Étienne's four matches against Italian sides have ended W1 D2 L1 (W1 D1 L0 at home – W0 D1 L1 in Italy). They have yet to score a competitive goal in Italy.
Form guide
• Lazio have scored just once in their last three European home games (W1 D1 L1).
• St-Étienne held Rosenborg BK 2-2 in their Group G opener, having kicked off last season's group stage with five straight draws: three 0-0s and then two 1-1s.
• Lazio have successfully navigated their way through their last three UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns, having missed out on the round of 32 in their first two attempts: in 2004/05 and 2009/10.
• St-Étienne made it through the UEFA Cup group stage at the first attempt in 2008/09 but missed the cut last season in their first UEFA Europa League group stage tilt.
• With 30 goals, Lazio's Miroslav Klose is the seventh-highest scoring German player in UEFA club competition history.
Trivia and links
• The journey from Saint-Etienne to Rome is around 750km.
• This is St-Étienne's 50th UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League game: the previous 49 ended W20 D15 L14.
• Lazio's Ravel Morrison and St-Étienne's Benoît Assou-Ekotto were team-mates at Queen's Park Rangers FC for the latter part of the 2013/14 season, when QPR won promotion to the Premier League.
• St-Étienne's Florentin Pogba is the brother of Serie A star Paul Pogba.
• Lazio's Filip Djordjević played in France for FC Nantes from 2008-14.
The coaches
• A central defender, with Juventus and ACF Fiorentina among others, Stefano Pioli took charge of Lazio in 2014. He has been a coach in Italy's top two divisions since 2003, his clubs including home-town side Parma FC, AC Chievo Verona and most recently Bologna FC.
• St-Étienne coach since 2009, Christophe Galtier led Les Verts to French League Cup success in 2012/13. A defender, he started his playing career at home-town club Olympique de Marseille. He returned to Marseille as a coach and worked as assistant to Alain Perrin at St-Étienne before getting the senior job.
