No room for repeat mistakes from Marseille

Olympique de Marseille suffered a chastening experience at Real Madrid CF on Matchday 2 and the French side know that only a win will do when the teams renew acquaintances on the final day of action in Group C.

• Madrid ran out 3-0 winners at the Santiago Bernabéu but for an hour the game was deadlocked at 0-0, and their opponents will be hoping to build on that initial resilience at the Stade Vélodrome.

• The Spanish giants lead the section on ten points, three points and two places above OM. A draw would ensure Madrid reach the last 16 – although in that eventuality they would be pipped to first place by AC Milan should the Italian side win at FC Zürich – while a victory would take them through as group winners. Marseille have no such concerns: only a win will give them a chance of a top two place, and if Milan also prevail they must down Madrid 3-0 or by four clear goals. They are nonetheless guaranteed a spot in the UEFA Europa League round of 32 at the very least.

Previous meetings
• Marseille have lost all three of their previous meetings with Los Merengues, succumbing 4-2 in Spain and 2-1 at home in the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• In the first game, Didier Drogba shot Marseille ahead before goals from Roberto Carlos (29), Ronaldo (34, 57) and Luís Figo (61pen) turned the game around, with Daniel Van Buyten then hitting a late consolation.

• Iker Casillas and Raúl González were in Madrid's starting lineup for that match on 16 September 2003, with Guti a 73rd-minute substitute.

• In the return encounter on 26 November, a David Beckham free-kick set Madrid up for another success, which was secured by Ronaldo's late drive after Mido had headed Marseille level. Casillas and Raúl again played 90 minutes, with Guti once more a late replacement.

Match background
• After beating Zürich 6-1 on Matchday 4, Marseille are aiming to make it two wins out of three and post their best set of home results in Europe's premier club competition since 1999/2000. They have prevailed only once at home in each of their last three group-stage campaigns, losing four of those nine outings at the Stade Vélodrome.

• Madrid are unbeaten away in this season's competition, having triumphed in Zurich and finished on level terms with Milan. Last season, they won two away group games but lost at Juventus and also at Liverpool FC in the first knockout round.

• Marseille avoided defeat in their other three home meetings with Spanish visitors. They faced Los Merengues' city rivals Club Atlético de Madrid in last season's UEFA Champions League group stage and drew 0-0, having run out winners in the other two encounters.

• Madrid were handed reverses on their last three visits to France, going down to Olympique Lyonnais in the group stages of both the 2005/06 and 2006/07 campaigns. That was preceded by a 3-1 loss to AS Monaco FC in the 2003/04 quarter-finals, and they have come off second best in five of their nine visits to the country.

• In 1956, Madrid won the first ever European Champion Clubs' Cup title, defeating Stade de Reims Champagne 4-3 in the Paris final. The sides met again in the 1959 showpiece in Stuttgart, with Madrid winning 2-0 to claim a fourth successive crown.

Team ties
• Retired legend Zinédine Zidane was born in Marseille and spent five seasons with Madrid between 2001 and 2006, scoring the winning goal in their 2-1 victory in the 2002 UEFA Champions League final against Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Zidane is still based in the Spanish capital and his son Enzo is in Madrid's youth ranks.

• OM's Fernando Morientes, at Madrid between 1997 and 2005, picked up three UEFA Champions League winners' medals with the club. He also scored in the capital side's 3-0 victory over Valencia CF in the 2000 final, as did Raúl.

• Morientes spent 2003/04 on loan at Monaco under current OM coach Didier Deschamps and scored in both legs of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final as Monaco ousted Madrid on away goals following a 5-5 aggregate score.

• In Morientes' final appearance for the Spanish national side, a 1-0 UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifying win over Iceland on 28 March 2007, his team-mates included Casillas, Sergio Ramos and Xabi Alonso.

• Gabriel Heinze swapped Madrid for Marseille in the summer after two years with the Spanish giants.

• Alonso was in the Liverpool team that beat Marseille 1-0 at Anfield in last season's group stage, on 26 November 2008.

• Karim Benzema joined the Lyon academy at the age of nine, eventually leaving for Madrid in the summer. The striked scored three goals in five league appearances against OM, including two on his last trip to the Vélodrome in Lyon's 3-1 win on 17 May this year. In the same season, Benzema scored the only goal at the Stade de Gerland to eliminate Marseille in the French Cup round of 32.

• Madrid duo Fernando Gago and Gonzalo Higuaín are team-mates of Heinze in the Argentina national team, along with Marseille's Lucho.

• Heinze and Kaká were on opposing sides when Argentina faced Brazil in a FIFA World Cup qualifying tie in September, the latter running out 3-1 victors.

• Steve Mandanda has played FIFA World Cup qualifiers for France with both Lassana Diarra and Benzema.

• Mahamadou Diarra was a Ligue 1 winner in each of the four seasons he spent with Lyon between 2002 and 2007. He also faced Taye Taiwo when Mali drew 0-0 with Nigeria in the CAF African Cup of Nations in January 2008 in Sekondi, Ghana.