Lille first to threaten Trabzonspor stronghold

Trabzonspor AŞ face unfamiliar opponents in LOSC Lille Métropole for their first home game in the UEFA Champions League group stage in what will be the teams' maiden meeting.

• The Turkish team are the surprise early leaders of Group B having marked their debut in the competition with a 1-0 victory at 2010 winners FC Internazionale Milano on matchday one. French champions Lille also looked on course for three points as they took a 2-0 lead at home to PFC CSKA Moskva but the Russian side rallied in the last 20 minutes to rescue a draw.

Match background
• Trabzonspor's last home game against Ligue 1 opponents ended in a 3-1 defeat at the hands of Toulouse FC in the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League play-offs. A 1-0 second-leg win in France was not enough to keep the Turkish team in the competition.

• They had more joy in the 1991/92 UEFA Cup second round against Olympique Lyonnais, winning 4-3 away and 4-1 at home.

• Lille have previously faced Turkish opponents just once, coming out on top against Fenerbahçe SK in the 2009/10 UEFA Cup round of 32 thanks to a 2-1 win at home and 1-1 away draw.

• Trabzonspor lost in the UEFA Champions League second qualifying round in 2005/06 having gone out in the third qualifying round the previous season. In a total of four home games in the competition since 2004/05, including this season's third qualifying round, they have won two games, lost one and drew the other.

• Between 1976/77 and 1984/85 five of their six European Champion Clubs' Cup campaigns ended in the first round after they had reached the second round in their first tilt at the competition.

• In 11 European Cup home games Trabzonspor have won seven and lost two, scoring 14 goals and conceding eight.

• Last season's Turkish Super League runners-up were given a place in the group stage after the Turkish Football Association (TFF) withdrew Fenerbahçe from the competition. Trabzonspor had earlier gone out in the third qualifying round to SL Benfica, losing 2-0 away before a 1-1 home draw in which Adrian Mierzejewski was shown a red card.

• Lille's fourth participation in Europe's elite club competition followed last season's league and cup double in France. They last took part in the group stage in 2006/07 when they reached the round of 16, losing both legs to Manchester United FC 1-0.

• Their last group stage away game resulted in a 2-0 victory against AC Milan with Peter Odemwingie and Kader Keïta on the scoresheet, a result that secured a place in the knockout rounds for the first time. It was the Dogues' first away victory in nine attempts in the group stage; five of the previous eight fixtures had been lost.

Team ties
• Róbert Vittek was at Lille from 2008 to 2010, scoring seven goals in 38 Ligue 1 appearances.

• Ireneusz Jeleń and Ludovic Obraniak are team-mates with Adrian Mierzejewski, Arkadiusz Glowacki and the Brożek twins in the Poland national team.

• Didier Zokora played for AS Saint-Étienne in 2004/05 and 2005/06, losing five of the six games he played against Lille and drawing the other.

• Joe Cole faced Trabzonspor twice last season with Liverpool FC in the UEFA Europa League play-offs. The English club won 3-1 on aggregate, Cole missing a first-leg penalty at Anfield.

• Jeleń and Mierzejewski played together at Wisła Płock from 2003 to 2006.

• Vahid Halilhodžić has coached both sides, leading Lille in the 2001/02 UEFA Champions League in what was the last of his four seasons at the French club. He spent the 2005/06 campaign in charge of Trabzonspor.