Rangers rout serves as Sevilla inspiration

Despite the Matchday 5 defeat at FC Unirea Urziceni, Sevilla FC have not made too many false moves in their Group G campaign and will be looking to secure first place against a Rangers FC side who are already certain to finish fourth in the section.

• Both teams lost their most recent outing, Rangers recording a third home reverse with a 2-0 defeat by VfB Stuttgart at Ibrox, but that aside their campaigns could scarcely have been more different. Sevilla reached the last 16 with two matches to spare thanks mainly to victories in their first three matches, including Matchday 2's 4-1 win at Rangers, who have collected two points from their first five games.

• A point would therefore be enough for the Spanish side to reach the first knockout round as group winners.

Previous meetings
• On 29 September Sevilla scored four goals in 24 second-half minutes to claim a convincing away victory in Glasgow. Abdoulay Konko opened the floodgates five minutes after the restart before Adriano, Luis Fabiano and Frédéric Kanouté extended the lead, Rangers substitute Nacho Novo scoring a late consolation.

• The teams' only previous meeting – the only other time Sevilla have faced opponents from Scotland – came in the 1962/63 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup first round. Sevilla won 2-0 at home but Rangers had scored four without reply in the first game.

Match background
• The 1-1 draw with Stuttgart on Matchday 4 spoiled Sevilla's unblemished record at home in the UEFA Champions League. Previously they had won all six games, starting with a 2-0 victory against AEK Athens FC in the 2007/08 third qualifying round. They followed that by winning all three home games in the group stage and then beat Fenerbahçe SK 3-2 at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán 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.

• Rangers have recorded two draws and seven defeats from nine visits to Spain. They failed to score in every game they lost.

• The Scottish champions are unbeaten on their travels in this season's competition but have not won in four away games. Their last success came in the 2007/08 group stage with a 3-0 triumph at Olympique Lyonnais.

Team ties
• Former manager Jock Wallace, who in 1976 and 1978 guided Rangers to the treble of league title, Scottish FA Cup and League Cup, was Sevilla coach between 1986 and 1987. Manuel Jiménez was among his charges at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán, Wallace making the current Sevilla coach vice-captain. Former Rangers winger Ted McMinn was also on Sevilla's books during Wallace's year in Spain.

• Sevilla lifted the 2007 UEFA Cup at Hampden Park in Glasgow with victory on penalties against Liga rivals RCD Espanyol following a 2-2 draw after extra time. Sevilla's goals were scored by Adriano and Kanouté, while Andrés Palop made three saves in the shoot-out.

• Kanouté and Rangers midfielder Pedro Mendes were team-mates at Tottenham Hotspur FC between 2003 and 2005.

• Sevilla's Sébastien Squillaci and Jérôme Rothen of Rangers spent two seasons together at AS Monaco FC between 2002 and 2004, culminating in the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League final and a 3-0 defeat by FC Porto.

• Rangers striker Nacho Novo began his playing career in Spain with SD Huesca, then in the fourth tier.

• Ikechi Anya, who was brought up in Glasgow's Castlemilk area, has earned a two-year contract with Sevilla Atletico, Sevilla's reserves, after impressing at Glenn Hoddle's academy – for promising young players who have been released from their clubs – in Spain.