FCK seek fresh approach to French test

FC København will hope for a change of luck against French opposition when they host LOSC Lille in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League play-off.

• Last season's Danish Super League runners-up, FCK have lost three of their four previous home matches with Ligue 1 visitors and will want to improve that record against a LOSC side playing in Denmark for the first time.

Match background
• Ariël Jacobs' hosts are looking to secure a third UEFA Champions League group stage campaign after previously coming through the play-offs in 2006/07 and 2010/11. Their record in qualifying is not the best given they have had six other failed attempts since 2001 but they can draw confidence from a 3-2 aggregate victory over Club Brugge KV in the third qualifying round.

• LOSC, by contrast, have successfully negotiated this qualifying stage twice before and are seeking a fifth UEFA Champions League participation since their first appearance in 2001/02.

• Third in Ligue 1 in 2011/12, LOSC will hope to inflict further punishment on a home team with just one win in their last five European fixtures at Parken. Rudi Garcia's side may also take heart from FCK's record against French clubs – it reads W1 D1 L5.

• That sole FCK victory was a 2-1 success in Copenhagen in the second leg of a 2007/08 UEFA Cup first round tie against LOSC's local rivals RC Lens, taking them through 3-2 on aggregate. In their two other two-legged ties, the Danish club suffered UEFA Cup elimination by AJ Auxerre in 1992/93 and Olympique de Marseille in 2009/10.

Team ties
• Jacobs himself will hope lightning does not strike twice given the last time he faced a French team in the UEFA Champions League play-offs, his RSC Anderlecht side lost 8-2 on aggregate to Olympique Lyonnais in 2009/10. On a brighter note, he earlier oversaw Anderlecht's 3-2 aggregate win against FC Girondins de Bordeaux in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup round of 32.

• Dimitri Payet scored the third AS Saint-Étienne goal in a 3-1 at FCK in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup group stage, with César Santin on target for the hosts. Payet also scored twice for France Under-21s in a 3-1 friendly win over Denmark in Le Mans in 2007.

• Salomon Kalou featured for Chelsea FC in a 2-0 win at FCK in the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League round of 16 and Laurent Bonnart has also tasted victory at Parken, having appeared for Marseille in both of their 3-1 successes over FCK in the 2009/10 UEFA Cup.

• Kalou was an unused substitute when his Chelsea side won the English FA Cup final against Lars Jacobsen's Everton FC in 2008/09.

• Jacobsen came off the bench when Denmark lost 2-0 to France in Lens in May 2006.

• Thomas Kristensen came up against David Rozehnal in Denmark's 1-1 friendly draw with the Czech Republic in Herning in March 2008.