Lyon look for repeat show against Madrid

Olympique Lyonnais will be aiming to ensure lightning strikes twice when they welcome Real Madrid CF to the Stade de Gerland for the first leg of their last-16 tie.

• Lyon eliminated Madrid from the UEFA Champions League at the same stage last season en route to the semi-finals. It was the Spanish side's third defeat at Lyon in as many visits but, with José Mourinho now at the helm, they will hope for a change of luck as they bid to progress to the quarter-finals for the first time since 2003/04.

• Mourinho got the better of Lyon on his way to winning the UEFA Champions League with FC Porto and his team should not be short on confidence after topping Group G with a tournament-best 16 points. Lyon were Group B runners-up behind FC Schalke 04, but took just one point from their final three games.

Previous meetings
• The clubs first met in the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League group stage, Lyon prevailing 3-0 at home through goals from John Carew, Juninho Pernambucano and Sylvain Wiltord. The return finished 1-1, Carew cancelling out a Guti strike.

• Lyon retained the upper hand at the same stage in 2006/07. Fred and Tiago earned a 2-0 home victory, before the sides drew 2-2 in Spain. Mahamadou Diarra, who had lined up against the Merengues 12 months earlier, scored against his old club as Madrid retrieved a two-goal deficit.

• In last season's round of 16, Jean Makoun's 47th-minute solo effort gave Lyon a first-leg lead and although Cristiano Ronaldo levelled the aggregate scores six minutes into the return at the Santiago Bernabéu, Miralem Pjanić's 75th-minute goal sent Claude Puel's men through 2-1 on aggregate.

• The lineups for last term's meeting in France on 16 February 2010 were:
Lyon: Lloris, Réveillère, Cris, Boumsong, Cissokho, Toulalan, Govou, Makoun, Pjanić (Källström 78), Delgado (Michel Bastos 89), Lisandro (Gomis 81).
Real Madrid: Casillas, Arbeloa, Sergio Ramos, Albiol, Marcelo (Garay 46), Mahamadou Diarra, Alonso, Granero, Kaká, Higuaín (Benzema 64), Ronaldo.

Match background
• Lyon have a strong run of home form behind them in the UEFA Champions League, with seven wins and just one defeat from 11 games, including qualifying. That sole reverse was a 3-0 loss to FC Bayern München in last season's semi-finals second leg.

• Prior to last season's success against Madrid, Lyon had faced Spanish opposition twice before in the last 16, losing to FC Barcelona in 2008/09 but overcoming Real Sociedad de Fútbol in 2003/04.

• Lyon's overall home record against Spanish opponents is: W4 D2 L2.

• Madrid have already recorded home and away wins against another French side, AJ Auxerre, this season.

• The visitors, who have been eliminated in the last 16 for the past six seasons, have lost their last four two-legged contests with Ligue 1 opposition. Besides succumbing to Lyon 12 months ago, the Merengues went down to AS Monaco FC in the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals and prior to that suffered quarter-final elimination two seasons running against Paris Saint-Germain FC – in the 1992/93 UEFA Cup and 1993/94 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.

• Madrid's overall away record against French opponents is: W4 D1 L6.

• Madrid won the first of their nine European Champion Clubs' Cups against French club Stade de Reims Champagne in 1955/56.

Team ties
• Puel faced Spanish opposition in his first European tie as a player, losing 2-0 with Monaco at Valencia CF in the 1980/81 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup first round. Nine years later Puel was in the Monaco team that beat Real Valladolid CF on penalties in the quarter-finals of the same competition.

• As a coach, Puel suffered a 4-2 aggregate defeat by RCD Mallorca with Monaco in the 1999/2000 UEFA Cup fourth round. With LOSC Lille Métropole he enjoyed a 1-0 win against Sevilla FC in the 2004/05 UEFA Cup group stage but then suffered elimination by the same opponents in the last 16 in 2005/06.

• As Porto coach in 2003/04, Mourinho oversaw a 4-2 aggregate win against Lyon in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals with a team including Ricardo Carvalho. Mourinho's side had earlier beaten Olympique de Marseille in the group stage and then won the final 3-0 against Monaco. Overall Mourinho has won eight and lost only one of 11 meetings with French opposition.

• This tie brings Karim Benzema back to the Gerland for the second time since his €35m switch to Madrid in 2009. Ligue 1's 20-goal top scorer in 2007/08, Benzema made 112 league appearances and scored 43 goals in five seasons for Lyon, winning four league titles.

• Kaká was in the AC Milan side that beat Lyon in the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, while Ronaldo scored the only goal when Manchester United FC beat Lyon at home in the last 16 in 2007/08 to confirm a 2-1 aggregate success.

• Sami Khedira was in the VfB Stuttgart team beaten home and away by Lyon in the 2007/08 group stage.

• Pjanić was twice on the losing side with Bosnia and Herzegovina against Spain in 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying, and then lost to Carvalho's Portugal in a subsequent play-off. He also suffered a 3-1 friendly defeat by a Germany side featuring Mesut Özil and Khedira last June.

• Kim Källström was a substitute in Sweden's 2-1 Group D loss to the Spain of Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos and Raúl Albiol at UEFA EURO 2008.