Lille look to rein in resurgent Gent

LOSC Lille Métropole will look to seize a place in the UEFA Europa League round of 32 when they play host to a resurgent KAA Gent in a Group C encounter which will decide the fate of these two sides in the competition.

• Third-placed Lille trail Gent by three points, but will steal second place in the section from Francky Dury's side with a home win at the Stade Lille Métropole. Gent, meanwhile, need only draw to take their place in the knockout phase.

Previous meetings
• Pierre-Alain Frau's 21st-minute effort cancelled out Stijn De Smet's early opener for Gent when the sides met for the first time on Matchday 2, drawing 1-1.

• Gent have now played five games against French sides, with a record of W0 D3 L2 (W0 D0 L2 in France). Those two away losses include a 7-1 rout at Paris Saint-Germain FC in the 2001 UEFA Intertoto Cup which remains Gent's heaviest away defeat in European competition.

• Lille's record in five matches against Belgian teams is W2 D3 L0 (W1 D1 L0 at 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
• Lille have lost only one of their last ten European home games, recording eight wins and a draw with the only blip in that sequence the 2-1 Matchday 1 defeat against Sporting Clube de Portugal.

• Back-to-back victories at the Jules Ottenstadion have revived Gent's hopes in this competition, but they have lost their last eight European away games since winning 4-0 against Northern Irish side Cliftonville FC in the 2007 UEFA Intertoto Cup.

Team facts
• 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 last year only to be rehired two weeks later. He has also coached AS Saint-Etienne and Le Mans UC 72.

• A midfielder with Hulse Sport, Gent coach 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 the 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's Cédri Baseya turns 23 on the day of the game.

• Gent boast French-born talent in the form of former Toulouse FC midfielder Christophe Grondin.

• Lille also have a Belgian player in 19-year-old midfielder Eden Hazard.