Olympiacos out to halt Paris charge

The two teams at the head of Group C meet at the Parc de Princes with Paris Saint-Germain needing one more point to qualify for the knockout rounds as section winners and Olympiacos FC aiming to join the hosts on ten points.

• Thiago Motta scored twice on matchday one as Paris won 4-1 in Piraeus. Edinson Cavani's opener was cancelled out by Vladimír Weiss but a powerful second-half display gave the visitors an emphatic victory despite Zlatan Ibrahimović missing a penalty. Marquinhos added a fourth goal following Motta's pair of headers.

• Laurent Blanc's side then beat SL Benfica 3-0 and continued their scoring spree in a 5-0 triumph – their biggest European away victory – at RSC Anderlecht in which Ibrahimović scored four. They dropped their first points in the return, being held 1-1 despite Ibrahimović's seventh goal of the group stage.

• On matchday two Olympiacos won 3-0 away to Anderlecht courtesy of Kostas Mitroglou's hat-trick and then drew 1-1 in Lisbon. Their home game with Benfica brought a vital 1-0 victory and a firm grip on second place. 

Previous meetings
• The 17 September meeting was the first between the sides and also the first time Paris had tackled a Greek side in the UEFA Champions League.

• They are unbeaten in all eight contests against opponents from Greece, winning seven and drawing one, and Weiss' strike was the first time their goal had been breached. They last welcomed Greek visitors for a 2006/07 UEFA Cup round of 32 tie against AEK Athens FC, winning 2-0 home and away.

• The Greek champions have a long history against French opposition and were paired with Montpellier Hérault SC last season, Olympique de Marseille the previous year and FC Girondins de Bordeaux in the 2009/10 round of 16.

• Olympiacos won their last two games in France. Mitroglou got the winner in a 2-1 triumph at Montpellier, having also scored in a 3-1 home victory. The 1-0 win at Marseille in November 2011 halted a run of seven successive defeats, home and away, against French teams.

• In 27 games against Ligue 1 rivals, Olympiacos have a record of W10 D3 L14 (W4 D1 L8 away).

Match background
• PSG, in the group stage for the sixth time, reached the quarter-finals last year where they drew 2-2 at home to FC Barcelona and 1-1 in Spain, going out on away goals. They won all three home games in the group, drawing both in the knockout stage.

• Olympiacos, in the group stage for the 15th time and a third season in succession, reached the 1998/99 quarter-finals.

• Last season they finished third in Group B, losing at Arsenal FC and FC Schalke 04 in addition to the win in Montpellier. The previous season they also finished third in their section, losing away against Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund and winning at Marseille.

Team ties
• Laurent Blanc and Míchel faced each other when France and Spain met in a UEFA European Championship qualifier in Paris on 20 February 1991. Blanc scored France's final goal in a 3-1 win.

• Blanc and Olympiacos' former player and current strategic adviser Christian Karembeu were members of the France team that won the 1998 FIFA World Cup and UEFA EURO 2000.

• Blanc started all four of Manchester United FC's UEFA Champions League first group stage games against Olympiacos in 2001/02 and 2002/03, all ending in United victories. Blanc scored the opening goal in a 3-2 win in Piraeus on 23 October 2002. 

• Several Olympiacos players have had spells at French clubs: Paulo Machado (AS Saint-Étienne and Toulouse FC), Javier Saviola (AS Monaco FC), Carl Medjani (St-Étienne, FC Lorient, FC Metz, AC Ajaccio and Monaco), Joel Campbell (Lorient), Gaëtan Bong (Metz, Tours FC and Valenciennes FC), Delvin Ndinga (AJ Auxerre and Monaco) and Sambou Yatabaré (SM Caen, Monaco and SC Bastia).

• Machado and Thiago Silva were team-mates at FC Porto in 2004/05 while Machado played with Blaise Matuidi at St-Étienne in 2008/09.

• Saviola and Thiago Motta were team-mates at Barcelona for three seasons from 2001.

• Medjani and Christophe Jallet were together at Lorient in 2006/07.

• Medjani scored Ajaccio's goal in a 3-1 Ligue 1 loss to Paris in October 2011.

• Gaëtan Bong scored in Valenciennes' 2-2 draw against Paris at the Parc de Princes on 5 May 2010.

• Zlatan Ibrahimović scored Sweden's first goal in a 2-0 victory over Greece in UEFA EURO 2008 a group fixture in Salzburg.