Liverpool look to tame Les Dogues

Liverpool FC will hope their solid home record against French sides augurs well when they host LOSC Lille Métropole in their UEFA Europa League round of 16 decider needing to overturn a 1-0 deficit from the first leg.

• The Reds looked like they would escape northern France with a draw until Eden Hazard's 84th-minute free-kick eluded Pepe Reina and crept inside his left-hand post.

Previous meetings
• Liverpool's record in 25 encounters with French clubs reads W14 D2 L9 (W9 D1 L2 at home), although they were beaten on their last home game with Ligue 1 opponents.

• Lille's nine meetings with English sides have produced the record W3 D3 L3 (W1 D1 L2 away). Six of those matches have been against Manchester United FC, with Les Dogues earning a win, two draws and three defeats against the Red Devils in a series of close-fought encounters which averaged one goal per game.

Match background
• Liverpool's four European home games this season have ended in two 1-0 wins and two 2-1 defeats, the first of those losses against Olympique Lyonnais. They also drew at Lyon on Matchday 4 in the UEFA Champions League.

• Lille are without a win in three European away games since kicking off their UEFA Europa League group-stage travels with a 5-1 victory at SK Slavia Praha.

Team facts
• Ludovic Butelle joined Valencia CF from FC Metz in July 2004, a month after Rafael Benítez had left the club to take over as Liverpool manager.

• Butelle and Fábio Aurélio were team-mates at Valencia from 2004 to 2006.

• Rio Mavuba and Albert Riera played together at FC Girondins de Bordeaux from 2003 to 2005.

• Aurélien Chedjou and Reina were contemporaries at Villarreal CF in the 2002/03 campaign, though the former – then a youth player – did not see any first-team action.

• Liverpool's David Ngog and Lille's Pierre-Alain Frau were team-mates at Paris Saint-Germain FC in 2006/07.

• Eleven of Lille's 19 goals since the start of the UEFA Europa League group stage have been scored between the 76th minute and the final whistle.

• The next goal Lille concede will be the 50th they have shipped in Europe.

• The draw for the quarter-finals and semi-finals will be staged at UEFA's headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, on Friday 19 March. There is no country protection.

Penalties
• Liverpool have won all three of their European penalty shoot-outs: 4-2 v AS Roma in the 1983/84 European Champion Clubs' Cup final, 3-2 v AC Milan in the 2004/05 UEFA Champions League final and 4-1 v Chelsea FC in the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League semi-finals.

• Lille have never been involved in a UEFA club competition shoot-out.