Rennes to test Brann's fortunes

Stade Rennais FC will look to end SK Brann's run of three straight European away wins - and their own run of three successive home defeats against foreign opposition - on Matchday 2.

• Rennes lost their Group D opener 1-0 at FC Basel 1893 while SK Brann were beaten by the same score at home against Hamburger SV.

• The two sides have never met in European competition.

• Rennes have never been drawn against Norwegian opposition.

• Brann are also playing in their first game against a French side.

• Brann goalkeeper Håkon Opdal and striker Robbie Winters both celebrated birthdays in the run-up to the game. Winters is 33 on 4 November while Opdal turned 25 on 6 November.

• Rennes midfielder Jérôme Leroy also turned 33 on 4 November, while Swedish defender Erik Edman is 29 on 11 November, three days after the Brann game.

• Brann's Moroccan-born right-back Hassan El Fakiri has experience of French football having played for AS Monaco FC between 2000 and 2005, making 41 Ligue 1 appearances.

• El Fakiri played alongside Rennes goalkeeper Patrice Luzi at Monaco during the 2000/01 season though they are unlikely to have seen much of each other. Neither featured in the French top flight, with El Fakiri being loaned out to FC Lyn Oslo and Rosenborg BK.

• Brann coach Mons Ivar Mjelde has played one game against French opposition, the former striker earning one of his three caps for Norway in a 0-0 friendly draw against France in 1997.

• Rennes have lost their last three European home games - a run stretching back to their maiden appearance in the UEFA Cup group stage in 2005/06. That campaign proved to be disastrous as they lost all four of their Group G games. They are thus yet to win a match, home or away, in the group stage.

• Brann are on a superb run away from home in European competition. They have not been beaten in their last five away games in European competition, and have won their last three away fixtures.

• NK Dinamo Zagreb, in their first outing in the section, tackle Basel in the day's other Group D game.