Sevilla's home strength faces Stuttgart test

Already five points clear in Group G, Sevilla FC have won all their six previous home games in the UEFA Champions League and will be looking to extend that record on Matchday 4 when they welcome VfB Stuttgart to the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán.

• The Spanish side were 3-1 winners in Germany in the third round of fixtures, maintaining their perfect record after defeats of FC Unirea Urziceni (2-0) and Rangers FC (4-1). Despite that setback, Stuttgart are still third in the section after 1-1 draws against Rangers and Unirea in their first two games.

Previous meetings
• The teams played 12 months ago in Spain during the UEFA Cup group stage, Sevilla winning 2-0. In their first ever competitive meeting, Ndri Romaric opened the scoring for the 2006 and 2007 UEFA Cup winners and Renato quickly doubled the lead.

• The teams for the game on 23 October 2008 were:
Sevilla: Palop, Konko, Squillaci, Escudé, Navarro, Navas (Rodríguez 75), Adriano, Fazio, Acosta (De Mul 21), Renato (Maresca 62), Romaric.
Stuttgart: Lehmann, Träsch (Marica 46), Boulahrouz, Delpierre, Magnin, Hilbert, Pardo, Hitzlsperger, Boka (Rudy 74), Gómez, Lanig (Élson 57).

Match background
• In five home games against German visitors, Sevilla have won four and are still to concede a goal. Their only blip came in the 2005/06 UEFA Cup when they drew 0-0 with 1. FSV Mainz 05.

• Stuttgart have made five visits to Spain and are yet to win. They have lost on four occasions, including their first visit to face Real Sociedad de Fútbol in the 1988/89 UEFA Cup quarter-finals. However, with the aggregate scores 1-1, the Bundesliga side then won the shoot-out 4-2.

• The 2-0 win against Unirea on Matchday 1 means Sevilla have won all six home games in the UEFA Champions League. In their only previous campaign, 2007/08, they followed up a 2-0 win against AEK Athens FC in the third qualifying round by winning all three home games in the group stage and then beat Fenerbahçe SK 3-2 at home in the first knockout round.

• During their successive UEFA Cup triumphs in 2006 and 2007, Sevilla lost just one of their 14 home games, winning eleven.

• Stuttgart's 1-1 draw against Unirea on 29 September brought to an end their run of successive away defeats in the competition. They lost all three games on foreign soil in the 2007/08 group stage and in last season's UEFA Cup they lost two and drew one of their three games away from home. They have not won any of their last nine fixtures on foreign soil in the UEFA Champions League or UEFA Cup proper.

Team ties
• Khalid Boulahrouz made six league and two UEFA Champions League qualifying appearances on loan at Sevilla in 2007/08.

• In November 2004 Kanouté scored Tottenham Hotspur FC's fourth goal in a 5-4 home defeat by an Arsenal FC side containing Jens Lehmann.

• In May 2005 Kanouté scored twice for Spurs in a 5-1 defeat of an Aston Villa FC side containing Thomas Hitzlsperger.

• Didier Zokora helped Tottenham to a 2-1 home victory against Chelsea FC in the 2006/07 Premier League campaign, with Boulahrouz a half-time substitute for the visitors. The duo also crossed paths in the FA Cup quarter-finals that year, contesting a 3-3 draw before the Blues won the replay.

• During the 2000/01 Premier League campaign, Stuttgart coach Markus Babbel and Kanouté twice faced each other as Babbel's Liverpool FC beat West Ham United FC 3-0 at Anfield and drew 1-1 away.

• Arthur Boka is an international team-mate of Zokora, Arouna Koné and Romaric with the Ivory Coast. Zokora, Romaric and Boka played in a 2006 FIFA World Cup defeat by a Netherlands team containing Boulahrouz.

• Sevilla's Julien Escudé scored an own goal for France in a 1-1 draw with Romania in a World Cup qualifier on 5 September 2009. Stuttgart striker Ciprian Marica was on the opposing side.

• Marica played 120 minutes (including extra time) of the 2006/07 UEFA Cup round of 16 second leg for FC Shakhtar Donetsk against a visiting Sevilla side who won 3-2 to clinch a 5-4 aggregate victory.

• Marica scored Romania's winner in a 1-0 friendly international victory against Spain in Cadiz in November 2006.

• Aleksandr Hleb was an 89th-minute substitute for FC Barcelona during a 3-0 Liga victory at Sevilla on 26 November 2008.

• Sami Khedira was part of the Germany side that drew 0-0 with a Spain team containing Sevilla's Diego Capel and Sergio Sánchez at last summer's UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Sweden.