Gent and Lille playing early catch-up
Friday, September 17, 2010
Article summary
After opening-day Group C defeats, both KAA Gent and LOSC Lille Métropole will hope to gain their first points in this season's UEFA Europa League when they meet in Belgium.
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Both KAA Gent and LOSC Lille Métropole will look to kick-start their UEFA Europa League campaigns after opening Group C losses when they meet in Belgium on Matchday 2.
Previous meetings
• The sides are meeting for the first time in UEFA club competition.
• Gent have played four games against French sides, with the outcome W0 D2 L2 (W0 D2 L0 at home). Those two away losses include a 7-1 defeat at Paris Saint-Germain FC in the 2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup which remains Gent's heaviest away defeat in European competition.
• Lille's track record in four matches with Belgian teams is W2 D2 L0 (W1 D1 L0 away from home). They overcame Belgian opposition in the form of KRC Genk to reach last season's UEFA Europa League group stage, winning 2-1 away and 4-2 at home.
Match background
• Gent have won four of their last six UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League home games, with that run punctuated by two huge defeats; a 7-1 loss to AS Roma in last season's UEFA Europa League third qualifying round and a 6-0 reverse against AFC Ajax in the 2000/01 UEFA Cup first round.
• Lille have not won in five European away games since thrashing SK Slavia Praha 5-1 in last season's UEFA Europa League group stage.
Team facts
• A midfielder with Hulse Sport, Gent coach Francky Dury combined a football career with a full-time job as a police officer until 2007, when his success with SV Zulte Waregem – whom he guided from third tier to top flight in barely four years – persuaded him to go professional. Having won the 2005/06 Belgian Cup, he left Zulte Waregem after nine years to become Gent coach this summer.
• Lille coach Rudi Garcia represented the club as a midfielder at the start of his playing career, and has been back with Les Dogues since 2008 – though he was briefly released in June 2009 only to be rehired two weeks later. He has also coached AS Saint-Etienne and Le Mans UC 72.
• Gent boast French-born talent in the form of former Toulouse FC midfielder Christophe Grondin.
• Lille also have a Belgian star in 19-year-old midfielder Eden Hazard.
