Genoa prepare to enter Lille fortress

LOSC Lille Métropole will hope their fine European form and excellent home record will stand them in good stead when Genoa CFC visit in UEFA Europa League Group B.

Previous meetings
• The two sides have never met, and this is Genoa's first competitive trip to France. Lille are unbeaten in their last four games against Italian sides, with their overall home record against Serie A opponents reading W1 D1 L1.

Match background
• Lille are unbeaten in six European games this season, recording five wins and one draw with an aggregate score of 16-5.

• Lille have lost only one of their last 13 European home games, going down 1-0 to Manchester United FC in the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League first knockout round – though the game was played at RC Lens's Stade Félix-Bollaert.

• Les Dogues have lost only once in 14 European games at their current home – the Stadium Lille Métropole – with Ligue 1 rivals AJ Auxerre beating them 1-0 in a UEFA Cup Round of 16 game on 10 March 2005.

• Matchday 2's 3-2 loss at Valencia CF ended a five-match unbeaten run away from home for Genoa, stretching back to a 1-0 reverse at Real Oviedo on 19 September 1991. Their only away defeats in UEFA club competition to date have come in Spain.

Team facts
• Lille coach Rudi Garcia represented the club as a midfielder in the 1980s, prior to spells with SM Caen and FC Martigues. His coaching career has seen him take charge of AS Saint-Etienne, Dijon FCO and Le Mans UC 72, before he returned to Lille in 2008.

• Genoa coach Gian Piero Gasperini is currently enjoying his first season in European competition. The former Juventus trainee and youth team coach joined the club in 2006 after earning his managerial spurs at FC Crotone, leading the Rossoblù to Serie A in his first campaign.

• Lille goalkeeper Ludovic Butelle and Genoa defender Emiliano Moretti were team-mates at Group B rivals Valencia from 2004 to 2008.

• Lille's Túlio De Melo and Genoa goalkeeper Marco Amelia both started last season at US Città di Palermo, though the Brazilian forward left without making a single Serie A appearance.

• Lille's Gabonese forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is on loan from Genoa's Serie A rivals AC Milan.

• Genoa captain Marco Rossi faced Lille with ACF Fiorentina in the 2001/02 UEFA Cup third round, with his side losing 1-0 at home and 2-0 away.

• Genoa's Alberto Zapater scored the first goal in the history of the UEFA Europa League group stage with a free-kick four minutes into his side's 2-0 Matchday 1 win against SK Slavia Praha.

• Lille's 5-1 win at Slavia on Matchday 2 was their biggest away win in UEFA club competition.

• Lille's Gervinho is one of three players to have registered three times since the start of the group stage, along with Athletic Club Bilbao's Fernando Llorente and Sporting Clube de Portugal's Liedson.

• Genoa midfielder Houssine Kharja will be out of action for around six months after damaging the ligaments in his left knee during training on Wednesday 14 October.

• The two sides meet again in Italy on 5 November for Matchday 4.