United out to seal Lille's fate

LOSC Lille Metropole visit Manchester United FC in the second leg of their first knockout round tie needing to dent one of the competition's most formidable home records if they are to progress to the last eight. Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, Lille must win at Old Trafford where their hosts have lost just once in their last 27 UEFA Champions League games.

• Ryan Giggs' 83rd-minute free-kick was the difference between the teams when they met in Lens on 20 February - and inflicted a first UEFA Champions League home defeat on Claude Puel's side.

• The result leaves Lille needing to repeat their heroics of Matchday 6 when a 2-0 win at AC Milan – courtesy of Peter Odemwingie and Kader Keita - carried them into the knockout rounds for the first time. That was Lille's first away win in the UEFA Champions League in nine attempts, including this season’s 1-1 draw at RSC Anderlecht and 1-0 defeat at AEK Athens FC.

• It is eleven years since the only occasion a side recovered from a first-leg home defeat in the UEFA Champions League. Then holders AFC Ajax achieved the feat in their 1995/96 semi-final against Panathinaikos FC, bouncing back from a 1-0 reverse with a 3-0 triumph in Greece. Since then there have been 14 failed attempts at a fightback.

• United, seeking a first quarter-final place since 2002/03, won all three home fixtures in the group stage, scoring three goals each time. After opening their campaign with a 3-2 defeat of Celtic FC, they secured further victories against FC København (3-0) and SL Benfica (3-1). The last team to win at Old Trafford in the competition were AC Milan, 1-0 victors at this stage in 2004/05.

• If United can maintain their advantage in the tie, they will avenge last season's results against Lille who drew 0-0 at Old Trafford on 18 October 2005 and two weeks later beat the English team 1-0 in France. Their failure to defeat Les Dogues ensured United finished the 2005/06 group stage bottom of their section with third-placed Lille progressing to the UEFA Cup.

• Including last season's Old Trafford stalemate, United have never lost at home against French opposition, winning six and drawing three. For their part Lille’s record on English soil reads one win, one draw and one defeat.

• The French side were narrow losers on their first visit to Old Trafford, going down to an 89th-minute David Beckham goal in the 2001/02 UEFA Champions League group stage. Defenders Grégory Tafforeau and Rafael Schmitz were the only current Lille players to appear that night, the latter as a substitute. Wes Brown, Giggs, Gary Neville and Paul Scholes all started for United with Ole Gunnar Solskjær featuring as a substitute.

• Lille's only other trip to England came in the 2002/03 UEFA Intertoto Cup semi-final where they won 2-0 at Aston Villa FC to secure a 3-1 aggregate success.

• United's first home match against visitors from France was actually played on the south coast of England. Plymouth provided the venue for the Red Devils' 2-0 win over AS Saint-Etienne FC in the 1977/78 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup first round after crowd trouble in the first leg meant United had to stage the return at least 300km from Old Trafford.

• In his playing days with AS Monaco FC, Lille coach Puel won in England, Scotland and Wales. He appeared in a 2-1 victory at Dundee United FC in the 1981/82 UEFA Cup, an identical success at Swansea City FC in the 1991/92 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and a 1-0 win at Leeds United AFC in the 1995/96 UEFA Cup. Against both Dundee United and Leeds, however, the ties were lost on aggregate.

• The winning team will advance to the 9 March draw in Athens for the quarter-finals and semi-finals. The Greek capital will also stage the final on Wednesday 23 May.