LOSC v Valencia facts

LOSC Lille have plenty of work to do to get up to speed in Group H, while Valencia are looking to bounce back from a dispiriting defeat as the teams meet in northern France.

• The Ligue 1 club have lost both of their two first fixtures on their UEFA Champions League return while Valencia kicked off with a notable win at Chelsea only to come up short at home to Ajax.

Previous meetings
• Valencia have dominated past games between the sides, winning three of the four matches. LOSC avoided defeat in the first match, earning a 1-1 home draw in the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League group stage, but went down 3-1 in the away fixture.

• When the sides reconvened in the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League group stage, Valencia won 2-0 at home and 1-0 in France, Jonas scoring all three of their goals.

Form guide
LOSC
• LOSC's first UEFA Champions League group game in seven seasons ended in disappointment on Matchday 1, Ajax inflicting a tenth loss in their 17 away games in the competition proper (W3 D4) with a 3-0 victory in Amsterdam.

• The French club's home game against Chelsea last time out ended in a 2-1 defeat, extending their run without a home victory in the UEFA Champions League proper to nine matches.

• Les Dogues lost all three home games in their last group appearance, in 2012/13; their last home victory in the UEFA Champions League, group stage to final, was a 3-1 defeat of AEK Athens on Matchday 3 in 2006/07. Their subsequent record is D3 L6.

• LOSC have not won a home European match since a 2-0 defeat of Copenhagen in the UEFA Champions League play-offs in August 2012; their record since is D4 L6.

• Second in Ligue 1 last term, this is LOSC's sixth appearance in the UEFA Champions League group stage and their first since 2012/13. Only one of those previous five campaigns has extended into the knockout rounds, in 2006/07; seven years ago they finished bottom of a section including Bayern München, Valencia and BATE Borisov.

• LOSC's most recent foray into continental competition came in 2016/17 and lasted only one tie, Gabala of Azerbaijan running out 2-1 aggregate winners in the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round (1-1 h, 0-1 a).

• This is LOSC's seventh home game against a Spanish club; they were unbeaten in the first five matches (W2 D3) before losing to Valencia in December 2012. Home and away, they have won only two of their 11 matches (D4 L5) and none of the last five (D1 L4), and have yet to score more than one goal in any of those games.

Valencia
• Rodrigo's 74th-minute goal gave Valencia three points at Chelsea in their first fixture, although they needed a late penalty miss from Ross Barkley to preserve that advantage. They went down 3-0 at home to Ajax last time out.

• The Matchday 1 win at Chelsea ended Valencia's five-match run without an away victory in the UEFA Champions League (D2 L3), and was their fourth victory in their last 11 away games in the competition, group stage to final (D3 L4).

• Valencia have scored only twice in their last six away UEFA Champions League matches.

• Fourth in the Spanish Liga in 2018/19, this is Valencia's 12th UEFA Champions League group stage campaign. Finalists in both 1999/2000 and 2000/01, they have not reached the last 16 since 2012/13.

• Twelve months ago Los Blanquinegros were also in Group H, finishing third behind Juventus and Manchester United – who they beat 2-1 at Mestalla on matchday six having earlier held out for a goalless draw at Old Trafford – to move into the UEFA Europa League. There they overcame Celtic (3-0 on aggregate), Krasnodar (3-2) and Villarreal (5-1) to reach the semi-finals, where they came up short against Arsenal, losing 3-1 in London and 4-2 at home.

• Valencia's last trip to France brought a 1-0 win at Lyon in the 2015/16 UEFA Champions League group stage; they have lost just twice in 12 previous away matches against French clubs (W5 D5).

• Home and away, Valencia have lost only four of their 24 matches against French clubs (W15 D5), although three of those defeats have come in their last six matches.

Links and trivia
• LOSC midfielder Xeka spent 2011/12 in the Valencia youth academy.

• Have played in France:
Mouctar Diakhaby (Lyon 2013–17)
Geoffrey Kondogbia (Lens 2010–12, Monaco 2013–15)
Gonçalo Guedes (Paris Saint-Germain 2017)
Francis Coquelin (Lorient 2010/11)
Kevin Gameiro (Strasbourg 2005–08, Lorient 2008–11, Paris Saint-Germain 2011–13)
Daniel Wass (Évian 2011–15)

• Has played in Spain:
Loïc Rémy (Las Palmas 2017–18, Getafe 2018)

• Have played together:
Renato Sanches & Gonçalo Guedes (Benfica 2015/16)
Timothy Weah, Jonathan Ikoné & Gonçalo Guedes (Paris Saint-Germain 2017)

• International team-mates:
Renato Sanches, José Fonte & Gonçalo Guedes (Portugal)
Jonathan Ikoné, Loïc Rémy & Kevin Gameiro (France)

• A Portugal team containing Sanches and Fonte defeated France 1-0 to win UEFA EURO 2016. Eliaquim Mangala was an unused substitute for France.

Latest news

LOSC Lille
• LOSC's run without an away victory extended to ten matches in all competitions (D5 L5) with a 2-1 loss at Toulouse on Saturday. Les Dogues have picked up only two points from their five Ligue 1 away fixtures in 2019/20.

• LOSC won their first four home matches in 2019/20, scoring nine goals and conceding two, before being held 2-2 by Nîmes on 6 October.

• Having scored in every LOSC home game this season, new signing Victor Osimhen has seven goals in Ligue 1 this season.

• Osimhen was the first player to score five goals or more in his first five Ligue 1 games since Mario Balotelli hit six in September/October 2016.

• Timothy Weah has not played since sustaining a leg injury in training on 25 August.

• Renato Sanches missed the Nîmes and Toulouse games due to hamstring pains.

• LOSC will mark their 75th anniversary on 30 November with a celebration at the Stade Pierre Mauroy when the club's all-time team, voted for by fans, will be unveiled.

Valencia
• Rodrigo made his 50th appearance in UEFA club competition on Matchday 2.

• Valencia have won two of their last six matches in all competitions (D3 L1); a late Dani Parejo equaliser earned a 1-1 draw at Atlético Madrid on Saturday.

• Kang-in Lee was shown a red card in added time at Atlético; the 18-year-old is the first player born in the 21st century to be sent off in the Liga.

• On 11 September Valencia replaced head coach Marcelino after just over two years at the helm, with former Spain Under-21 coach Albert Celades taking charge. It is Celades's first senior managerial role.

• Celades' first game as coach ended in a 5-2 loss at Barcelona on 14 September; that and the 3-0 reverse to Ajax on Matchday 2 are his only defeats in eight matches in charge (W3 D3).

• Rodrigo's added-time goal against Sweden on 15 October secured a 1-1 draw and Spain's place at UEFA EURO 2020.

• Denis Cheryshev scored twice as Russia also qualified for UEFA EURO 2020 with a 5-0 victory against Cyprus on 13 October.

• Gonçalo Guedes scored as Portugal beat Luxembourg 3-0 in EURO qualifying on 11 October.

• Carlos Soler returned as a late substitute at Atlético on Saturday having not played since 17 August due to an ankle injury; Cristiano Piccini (knee) has been out since 24 August.

• José Gayà (hamstring) has not played since going off injured against Leganés on 22 September. Kevin Gameiro and Geoffrey Kondogbia had been out since 25 September with adductor issues before returning at Atlético, Kondogbia starting and Gameiro coming on in his place after 65 minutes.

FootballPeople weeks
The FootballPeople weeks take place from 10 to 24 October 2019 and are organised by UEFA's social responsibility partner Fare. The weeks are a global campaign aimed at tackling discrimination and celebrating diversity in football. The UEFA Champions League is offering its full support to the FootballPeople weeks; teams will line up for a mixed photo with the referees, while an #EqualGame hashtag will also be on display. Videos will be played on giant screens at stadiums across Europe, and child mascots will be wearing #FootballPeople t-shirts. UEFA's collaboration with the Fare network's FootballPeople weeks has been running since 2001. The aim of this initiative fits in perfectly with the goals of #EqualGame, which is looking to promote inclusion, diversity and accessibility.