Marseille draw on experience

Olympique de Marseille will be able to draw on the experience of countless European campaigns as they look to edge past Bolton Wanderers FC and into the UEFA Cup Round of 16. The Ligue 1 outfit held on for a battling goalless draw against the European debutants at the Reebok stadium and will be narrow favourites as they enjoy home advantage in the second leg at the Stade Véledrome.

• Marseille booked their passage to the knockout stages after just two games following successive wins against holders PFC CSKA Moskva and SC Heerenveen. Disappointment followed as a weakened side slipped to a 1-0 defeat by PFC Levski Sofia, but Jean Fernandez's team completed the group stage on a high, securing first place in the section with a 2-1 victory against FC Dinamo Bucuresti thanks to first-half goals from Bostjan Cesar and José Delfim.

• Bolton's progress was much edgier as they escaped a congested Group H courtesy of a Matchday 5 draw against section winners Sevilla FC. Until then, their hopes hung in the balance following 1-1 draws against Beşiktaş JK and Vitória SC and a narrow 1-0 victory at home to FC Zenit St. Petersburg. It left them needing a point against Sevilla on the last day to secure third place, and Bruno N'Gotty's second-half strike helped them to yet another 1-1 draw.

• This being Bolton's first European campaign, the teams have never before met in UEFA competition. The Premiership outfit have never met a French side either, but 1993 UEFA Champions League winners Marseille are old hands at this level, and have faced English opposition eleven times. Four of those games have ended in victory and ominously for Sam Allaryce's team, all triumphs occurred in France.

• Marseille's first encounter came in the first round of the 1976/77 UEFA Cup Winners' cup when they were swept aside 4-0 by Southampton FC. The Ligue 1 outfit edged the return leg in France although they could not overturn the deficit. The pattern of losing away and winning at home continued in the UEFA Champions League in 1999/00 when they achieved those results against Manchester United FC and Chelsea FC in the first and second group stages respectively.

• But Marseille will have fond memories of their most recent games against English opposition, as they swept past Liverpool FC and Newcastle United FC en route to the 2003/04 UEFA Cup final. Now at Chelsea, Didier Drogba scored in a 1-1 draw against Liverpool in the fourth round first leg at Anfield. The Ivorian was on target again at home, cancelling out Emile Heskey's strike before defender Abdoulaye Méïté secured a 2-1 win.

• After overcoming FC Internazionale Milano in the last eight, Marseille were paired with Newcastle in the semi-finals. They held out for a goalless draw at St. James' Park before two goals from Didier Drogba in the return leg saw them seal a place in the final, where they lost to Valencia CF.