Athletic stand between Lyon and last 32

Boasting one of only three perfect group stage records, Olympique Lyonnais will be through to the UEFA Europa League round of 32 if they make it four wins out of four at Athletic Club's expense.

• Lyon moved to within sight of the knockout stages with a 2-1 victory against Athletic last time out. Ibai Gómez cancelled out Lisandro's early second-half opener but Jimmy Briand struck the winner with four minutes left.

• Another victory against Athletic will guarantee Lyon's progress, though they will also qualify for the last 32 if they draw and Hapoel Kiryat Shmona FC fail to beat AC Sparta Praha.

Previous meetings
• The sides met for the first time in UEFA club competition on matchday three.

• Lyon's 21 previous games against Spanish sides have ended W6 D6 L9 (W5 D3 L3 at home – W1 D3 L6 in Spain). Their victory on matchday three ended a five-game sequence without a win against Liga opposition.

• Athletic's record in five games against French sides is W1 D1 L3 (W1 D1 L0 at home – W0 D0 L3 in France). They met Paris Saint-Germain FC in last season's UEFA Europa League group stage, winning 2-0 at home but going down 4-2 in the French capital.

Match background
• Athletic have not triumphed in four European games since winning 6-0 at home against HJK Helsinki in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League play-off, recording two draws and then two defeats.

• The Spanish side are unbeaten in 12 European matches at San Mamés (seven wins and five draws) since going down 3-0 to SV Werder Bremen in the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League group stage.

Team facts
• Athletic's next goal will be their 150th in the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League – this is their 94th game in the competition.

• FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, Liverpool FC and Lyon are the highest-scoring sides in this season's group stage with eight goals each.

• Holders Club Atlético de Madrid, Dnipro and Lyon are the only sides going into matchday four with the full complement of nine points.

• Lyon defenders Anthony Réveillère (Valencia CF), Mouhamadou Dabo (Sevilla FC) and Fabián Monzón (Real Betis Balompié) all have experience of Spanish football.

• Rémi Garde replaced Claude Puel as Lyon coach in June 2011, having worked behind the scenes as a coach and assistant manager since 2003, and also as a television pundit after hanging up his boots. Capped six times, Garde played as a defender for Lyon and then RC Strasbourg, finishing his career in England at Arsenal FC.

• Athletic coach Marcelo Bielsa was a midfielder in his native Argentina, initially with CA Newell's Old Boys, the club where he started his coaching career. Briefly boss of RCD Espanyol in 1998, the studious Bielsa was in charge of Argentina (1998–2004) and Chile (2007-2011) before coming to Bilbao, where he reached the finals of the Copa del Rey and UEFA Europa League in his first season.