Sevilla hoping to avoid Portuguese deja vu

FC Porto welcome Sevilla FC looking to become the second Portuguese club to knock the Spanish side out of a UEFA competition this season following last week's 2-1 victory in Spain.

• With the round of 32 first leg evenly poised after Frédéric Kanouté's 65th-minute equaliser had cancelled out Rolando's opener, substitute Fredy Guarín stunned Sevilla late on to give his side a clear advantage ahead of the return fixture.

Previous meetings
• This is the clubs' first tie but they both have abundant experience of playing against sides from their opponents' home countries.

• Porto's 33 games against Spanish opponents have ended W11 D5 L17 (W6 D3 L6 at home). Those fixtures include the 2004 UEFA Super Cup, where they lost 2-1 to Valencia CF in Monaco. They have not been defeated – or conceded – in their last three home games against Spanish sides.

• Sevilla's 11 games against Portuguese sides have ended W5 D2 L4 (W1 D1 L2 in Portugal).

Match background
• Porto are unbeaten in nine European games this season – all of their matches under coach André Villas-Boas, who was appointed in the summer.

• Porto are unbeaten in five European home fixtures – four wins and a draw – since a 1-0 loss to Chelsea FC in last season's UEFA Champions League group stage. They have won all five of their 2010/11 UEFA Europa League games on the road.

• A 4-2 loss at Paris Saint-Germain FC in their penultimate group stage game ended a run of two straight away wins – both 1-0 – for Sevilla.

Team facts
• Porto's Falcao remains the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League's top scorer with seven goals since the start of the group stage, with PFC CSKA Moskva's Tomáš Necid his nearest rival on six.

• Sevilla's Kanouté and KKS Lech Poznań's Artjoms Rudņevs joined former AC Sparta Praha striker Wilfried Bony, Giuseppi Rossi of Villarreal CF, FC Dynamo Kyiv's Artem Milevskiy and SSC Napoli's Edinson Cavani on five goals with strikes in the first legs of the round of 32 ties.

• Sevilla are at their most dangerous in the latter stages of the first half; eight of their 11 UEFA Europa League goals this season were scored between the 30-minute mark and the half-time whistle.

• Porto have won 64 corners since the start of the group stage; more than any other side in this season's UEFA Europa League round of 32. Only PFC CSKA Moskva can match their 56 shots on goal in the same period, though the Russian side have scored 19 goals to Porto's 16.

• Sevilla striker Luis Fabiano endured a difficult season with Porto in 2004/05, scoring just three goals in 22 league games before being transferred to Sevilla.

• Porto's Colombian midfielder Guarín played alongside Sevilla's Mouhamadou Dabo at AS Saint-Etienne from 2006 to 2008.

• The overall winners will take on the victors in the tie between PAOK FC and PFC CSKA Moskva in the round of 16 on 10 and 17 March, playing the first leg away from home.