Panionios face Bordeaux barrier

Panionios GSS will look to end FC Girondins de Bordeaux's perfect run in UEFA Cup Group H as they seek the win that will guarantee them a last-32 place on Matchday 5.

• Galatasaray AS are at home against FK Austria Wien in Wednesday's other fixture in the section, with the Turkish side knowing they will be out of the competition if they lose.

• Panionios drew their opening game at Helsinborgs IF, then lost 3-0 at home against Galatasaray but won 1-0 in Vienna to take third place in the section.

• A win against Bordeaux will see them qualify, although they would need to score at least six goals to dislodge Helsingborg from second place in the section.

• Should Panionios draw or lose, Galatasaray would take third place with a win against Austria.

• If Panionios lose, Galatasaray would usurp them by recording a home point against Austria Wien.

• The team finishing third in the section will be drawn against one of the group winners in the Round of 32, playing the home leg first.

• Laurent Blanc's Bordeaux are sure to be one of those section winners after 2-1 victories against Galatasaray, Austria and Helsingborg in their first three Group H games. They are one of four clubs to have a perfect record after three games, along with Everton FC, Hamburger SV and Panathinaikos FC.

• The two teams have never met in UEFA club competition.

• Panionios’s Mali international defender Sékou Berthé has some experience of French football, having been a trainee at AS Monaco FC before representing ES Troyes AC between 1999 and 2003. He left France for English side West Bromwich Albion FC and joined Panionios in 2006.

• It is over 27 years since Panionios coach Ewald Lienen's last competitive tie against a French side, but it was a memorable occasion. Lienen scored as his VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach side won 4-1 at AS Saint-Etienne in the 1979/80 UEFA Cup quarter-finals. He played again as his side won 2-0 at home in the return, en route to losing the final to Eintracht Frankfurt on away goals.

• Worryingly for Panionios, they have lost four of their last five European home games, with their only continental victories under Lienen coming away from home. They have lost both of their UEFA Cup home games this season, 1-0 against FC Sochaux-Montbéliard in the first round and 3-0 against Galatasaray last month.

• Panionios have played five games against French sides in European competition, and have lost all but one of them, breaking their duck with the 2-0 win at Sochaux that sent them into the group stage this season.

• Bordeaux have never come up against Greek opposition before.

• Bordeaux's Alou Diarra is within a booking of a one-match suspension, along with five players from Panionios: Rafik Djebbour, Dario Fernandez, Bennard Kumordzi, Ioannis Maniatis and Marcello Pletsch.

• The draw for the Round of 32 and Round of 16 will be held in Nyon on 21 December from 13.00CET.