Lens hope for French first

RC Lens go into the first leg of their UEFA Cup Round of 16 tie against Bayer 04 Leverkusen looking to become the first French side to win a two-leg tie against the German team.

• The two sides have never met in European competition.

• Lens reached the knockout stage as the third-placed side in Group D, before taking a significant step towards a place in the last 16 with a 3-1 home first-leg win against Panathinaikos FC in the Round of 32. A 0-0 draw in Athens saw Francis Gillot's men seal their passage.

• A goalless draw also marked Leverkusen's progress to the last 16, shutting out Blackburn Rovers FC in England following a 3-2 first-leg win against the Premiership side. Michael Skibbe's side had pipped Beşiktaş JK to third place in Group B with a 2-1 win against the Turkish side on the final day of group stage.

• Lens's Malian midfielder Sidi Keita played alongside Leverkusen's Tunisian defender Karim Haggui for two seasons at RC Strasbourg before their paths diverted last summer. Haggui will also be up against an international team-mate in the form of Lens midfielder Issam Jemaa.

• Lens have been drawn against German opposition four times in knockout ties - winning two and losing two - and have been pooled against Bundesliga sides once in the UEFA Champions League and UEFA Cup. In eleven games against German teams they have won four, drawn four and lost three.

• They earned their only win on German soil to date with a 4-1 triumph against 1. FC Kaiserlsautern in the second leg of a 1999/00 UEFA Cup third-round tie, having lost the home leg 2-1.

• UEFA Cup winners in 1988, Leverkusen have met French sides in two previous knockout ties, winning both, and have twice been pooled with Ligue 1 teams in the UEFA Champions League group stage. They have won three, drawn three and lost two of their eight individual games against teams from France.

• Their most recent trip to France ended in a 1-0 win at Olympique Lyonnais in the 2001/02 UEFA Champions League group stage, en route to a 2-1 defeat against Real Madrid CF in the final of the competition.

• The second leg will be played in Leverkusen on 14 March. The winners of the tie will enter the draw for the final rounds of the competition in Glasgow on Friday 16 March. No teams will be seeded in the draw and, for the first time in this season's competition, teams from the same national association may be drawn against each other.