Leicester vs Rennes: UEFA Europa Conference League background, form guide, previous meetings

Leicester City's sixth continental adventure continues with a UEFA Europa Conference League round of 16 home game against French club Rennes, who have won all of their European away fixtures this season.

• Leicester finished third in UEFA Europa League Group C, two points behind both Spartak Moskva and Napoli, after losing 3-2 away to the Italian club on Matchday 6, but came through their inaugural UEFA Europa Conference League tie in some comfort, defeating Danish side Randers 7-2 on aggregate.

• Rennes were confirmed as winners of UEFA Europa Conference League Group G in the autumn after taking 11 points from their first five matches, four each at the expense of Vitesse and Mura, before their final fixture, away to Tottenham, was cancelled and awarded in their favour with a 3-0 forfeit.

Previous meetings
• This is Leicester's first UEFA encounter with French opposition.

• Rennes have lost their three previous matches in England, all without scoring, most recently going down 3-0 to Chelsea in last season's UEFA Champions League group stage. They drew 2-2 at home to Spurs on Matchday 1 of the UEFA Europa Conference League, making their all-time record against English sides, discounting this season's Matchday 6 forfeit, W2 D1 L4. They have lost both previous two-legged ties against English teams, most recently letting slip a 3-1 first-leg lead against Arsenal in the 2018/19 UEFA Europa League round of 16 with a second-leg 3-0 defeat in London.

Form guide
Leicester
• Leicester booked back-to-back appearances in the UEFA Europa League group stage by winning the FA Cup for the first time in their history last May thanks to a 1-0 victory in the final against Chelsea. However, in a repeat of the previous season Brendan Rodgers' side just missed out on UEFA Champions League qualification, finishing fifth in the Premier League after spending almost all of the campaign in the top four.

• UEFA Champions League quarter-finalists in 2016/17, the Foxes won their UEFA Europa League group last season on their competition debut but were eliminated in the round of 32 by Slavia Praha (0-0 a, 0-2 h). This term they won two, drew two and lost two of their six Group C games with Napoli, Legia Warszawa and Spartak, the highlight a 4-3 win in Moscow where new signing Patson Daka scored all four goals. Harvey Barnes and James Maddison both found the net twice as the East Midlanders saw off Randers with ease in the UEFA Europa Conference League knockout round play-off (4-1 h, 3-1 a).

• Leicester were unbeaten in nine European home games (W7 D2), winning all six group encounters at the Leicester City Stadium with the concession of just one goal, until that defeat by Slavia. Rodgers' side are unbeaten at home in this season's European campaign, drawing 2-2 against Napoli and 1-1 against Spartak before beating Legia 3-1 and Randers, but have yet to keep a clean sheet in any European game, home or away, in 2021/22.

Rennes
• Rennes' sixth-placed finish in last season's Ligue 1 enabled them to become France's first representatives in the UEFA Europa Conference League. The Brittany club are competing in a European group stage for the fourth straight year, a 2020/21 UEFA Champions League adventure following back-to-back UEFA Europa League campaigns.

• Bottom of their UEFA Champions League group, which contained Krasnodar and Sevilla as well as eventual winners Chelsea, Rennes ensured another autumn of continental football as Bruno Génésio's side beat Rosenborg 5-1 on aggregate in their UEFA Europa Conference League play-off. After drawing their opening group game with Tottenham they won three in a row, including a double over Slovenian champions Mura, before a 3-3 home draw against Vitesse, in which Gaëtan Laborde scored a hat-trick, confirmed their place in the round of 16 as group winners.

• Rennes' 3-1 victory in Trondheim ended a run of seven successive away defeats in Europe, but back-to-back 2-1 victories at Vitesse and Mura have given the French club three successive European away wins for the first time in their history.

UEFA Europa Conference League squad changes
Leicester
In: Wesley Fofana, James Justin
Out: Filip Benković (Udinese), Ryan Bertrand

Rennes
In: Yanis Dede Lhomme, Jérémy Gelin, Chimuanya Ugochukwu
Out: Matthis Abline (Le Havre, loan), Junior Kadile (Famalicão, loan)

Links and trivia 
• Leicester have two Frenchmen with Ligue 1 experience in their squad – defender Wesley Fofana (St-Étienne 2018–20) and midfielder Boubakary Soumaré (LOSC Lille, 2017–21). Soumaré was a French champion with LOSC last season.

• Leicester's Portuguese defender Ricardo Pereira has also played in the French top flight, on loan at Nice from 2015 to 2017, while Youri Tielemans was a Monaco player between 2017 and January 2019, when he joined Leicester.

• Tielemans, Timothy Castagne (both Leicester) and Jérémy Doku (Rennes) are all Belgian internationals who featured at UEFA EURO 2020.

• Leicester's Daniel Amartey and Kamaldeen Sulemana of Rennes were members of Ghana's squad at this year’s CAF Africa Cup of Nations.

• With six goals apiece, Daka and Barnes are Leicester's all-time joint record marksmen in UEFA club competition.

• Rennes coach Génésio is undefeated against English opposition. In addition to the 2-2 draw with Spurs on Matchday 1, he led Lyon to two victories against Everton in the 2017/18 UEFA Europa League group stage (2-1 a, 3-0 h).

• Leicester are one of three reigning domestic cup holders participating in the UEFA Europa Conference League round of 16, along with PAOK and Slavia Praha.

• Rennes and fellow Ligue 1 side Marseille are the only two of last season's 32 UEFA Champions League participants involved in the UEFA Europa Conference League round of 16.