Marseille wary of Zürich pedigree

FC Zürich registered one of the surprise results of the UEFA Champions League when Hannu Tihinen's early goal gave them a 1-0 win away to AC Milan on 30 September but two home defeats mean the Swiss champions are in need of another three points on their travels against Olympique de Marseille.

• Gabriel Heinze scored the only goal in the 69th minute on Matchday 3 in Zurich to give Marseille their first win in Group C and take them above their opponents and into third place in the section.

Match background
• This is the fourth time Marseille have played host to a team from Switzerland in a competitive match and they have not yet tasted defeat, winning two and drawing one of the three fixtures. However, in beating FC Sion 3-1 in the 1994/95 UEFA Cup second round and BSC Young Boys 2-1 in the UEFA Intertoto Cup third round in 2005, the French club had to come from behind on each occasion.

• Marseille are unbeaten in their last six meetings with Swiss opponents, home and away, since losing their first fixture, a 2-0 defeat at FC Sion in the 1994/95 UEFA Cup second round.

• This is the first time Zürich have played a competitive away game against French opponents having recorded a win and a defeat in their two home games.

• The Swiss side have won all three away games in this season's UEFA Champions League and are yet to concede a goal. Prior to their triumph in Milan, Zürich were victorious at NK Maribor in the third qualifying round and FK Ventspils in the play-offs, winning both games 3-0.

• After losing their Matchday 1 contest at the Stade Vélodrome 2-1 to Milan, Marseille are anxious to improve their home record in Europe's premier club competition. In each of their last three UEFA Champions League group-stage campaigns OM have only been victorious in one of their three home games, losing four of those nine matches.

• Their success in Switzerland on Matchday 3 ended OM's run of six successive away defeats in the UEFA Champions League proper since winning 1-0 at Liverpool FC in their first tie on the road in 2007/08.

Team ties
• Zürich's Onyekachi Okonkwo and Marseille striker Bakari Koné both came on as substitutes as the Ivory Coast beat Nigeria 1-0 during the 2008 CAF Africa Cup of Nations group stage.

• While at Valencia CF, Fernando Morientes came up against FC Salzburg in the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round second leg. Having lost 1-0 away, Morientes's strike helped the Liga outfit to a 3-1 aggregate success in the return. Johan Vonlanthen was a second-half substitute for Salzburg.

• Vonlanthen and Salzburg also faced Brandão, who was then at FC Shakhtar Donetsk, in another third qualifying round tie the following season. Brandão scored the decisive goal in Shakhtar's 3-2 aggregate triumph.