Les Verts aim to maintain perfect start

AS Saint-Etienne may be reassured by their guests' poor record on French soil as they welcome Rosenborg BK in their second UEFA Cup group-stage game, but Laurent Roussey's men have reason to be cautious too.

• This is St-Etienne and Rosenborg's first meeting in UEFA club competition.

• St-Etienne have never played against Norwegian opposition before.

• Rosenborg have played six matches against French sides, all of them in the UEFA Champions League group stage, registering one win, a draw and four defeats. They have lost all three of their previous games in France.

• They suffered a 7-2 reverse in their first visit, at Paris Saint-Germain FC in 2000/01, and then went down 5-0 on their second trip, to Olympique Lyonnais in 2002/03.

• They lost 2-1 on their most recent visit in 2005/06 to a Lyon side featuring St-Etienne defender Sylvain Monsoreau.

• This will be Rosenborg's first game in France under Erik Hamrén. The Swedish coach has come up against French opposition with three previous clubs.

• His AIK Solna side took on Nîmes Olympique SC in the 1996/97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup second round, winning 3-1 in France but going down 1-0 at home.

• Hamrén's Örgryte IS team lost out to OGC Nice on away goals in the 2003 UEFA Intertoto Cup second round, winning 3-2 at home but losing 2-1 in France. St-Etienne's Cédric Varrault played for Nice in both of those games.

• In the first round of the 2004/05 UEFA Cup, Hamrén's Aalborg BK met AJ Auxerre drawing 1-1 in Denmark but losing 2-0 in France.

• The coach has thus won two games against French sides, drawing one and losing three. In France, he has won one game and lost two.

• St-Etienne have only lost twice in their last 27 European home fixtures. However, both of those defeats were by the same margin, 4-1, in UEFA Cup quarter-finals against VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach in 1979/80 and Ipswich Town FC the following season.

• Rosenborg have won five of their last ten European away games and have only failed to register just once in their last 16 UEFA club competition away matches.

• Rosenborg defender Mikael Dorsin has some experience of French football, having spent a season on loan at RC Strasbourg in 2003/04.

• Defender Bjørn Tore Kvarme, who started and ended his career at Rosenborg, retiring this year, spent two seasons at St-Etienne between 1999 and 2001.

• St-Etienne opened their Group G account with a 3-1 win at FC København – Bafétimbi Gomis, Loïc Perrin and Dimitri Payet scoring the goals. Rosenborg kicked off with a goalless draw at home against Club Brugge KV.

• Valencia CF are at home against København in Matchday 2's other Group G game. Club Brugge are the only team in the section not in action on Thursday.