Benfica and Bordeaux meet again

SL Benfica will look to make it to the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals for the third time in four seasons as FC Girondins de Bordeaux aim to  become the first French side to win at the Eagles.

Previous meetings
• Aimé Jacquet's Bordeaux eliminated John Mortimore's Benfica in the second round of the 1986/87 European Cup Winners' Cup in the sides' only previous official meeting; the sides drew 1-1 in Lisbon with Philip Vercruysse (44) scoring the only goal in France to win the tie 2-1 on aggregate.

• The teams in Lisbon on 22 October 1986 were:
Benfica: Silvino, António Veloso, António Oliveira (Wando 62), Álvaro, Dito, Carlos Manuel, Adelino Nunes, Manniche (Chiquinho 46), Rui Águas, Shéu, Diamantino.
Bordeaux: Dropsy, Thouvenel, Zoran Vujović, Specht, Battiston, Girard, Roche, Tigana, Vercruysse, Ferreri, Zlatko Vujović.

• The teams for the return at the Stade Chaban-Delmas on 5 November 1986 were:
Bordeaux: Dropsy, Thouvenel, Zoran Vujović, Specht, Battiston, Girard, Rohr, Tigana, Ferreri (Roche 60), Vercruysse, Zlatko Vujović.
Benfica: Silvino, António Veloso, António Oliveira, Álvaro, Dito, Carlos Manuel, Wando (Živković 67), Adelino Nunes, Rui Águas, Shéu (Chiquinho 52), Diamantino.

Match background
• Benfica's 22 games against French sides have ended W10 D6 L6 (W7 D4 L0 at home). They have won all three of their previous UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League round of 16 ties against Ligue 1 opposition.

• Bordeaux's four UEFA games against Portuguese sides ended W2 D2 L0 (W0 D2 L0 in Portugal). They also played four games against Liga clubs in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup – the non-UEFA affiliated precursor to the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League – with the record W1 D0 L3 (W0 D0 L2 in Portugal).

• Thus, Bordeaux are yet to lose at home to a Liga side or win a competitive game on Portuguese soil.

• Benfica are unbeaten in five European games, and have not lost in 12 home fixtures in the UEFA Europa League (W11 D1, including play-off matches) since the competition's inception in 2009. That one draw came against a French club – Olympique de Marseille – in the 2009/10 round of 16.

• Bordeaux are unbeaten in six games. They have lost just once in their five UEFA Europa League away matches this season (W1 D3 L1) and are unbeaten in 13 at home (W11 D2) in Europe since a 3-1 loss to AS Roma in the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League group stage. They have won their last ten European home games, and have not conceded in four since the start of this season's UEFA Europa League group stage.

• Bordeaux reached the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, but have not made it to the last 16 of this competition since 2003/04, when they beat Club Brugge KV en route to a last-eight exit against Valencia CF.

Team facts
• Rodrigo turns 22 on the eve of the match.

• Marc Planus (31) and André Poko (30) both celebrate their birthdays on the day of the first leg.

• Bordeaux's biggest success in any major UEFA competition came when they reached the 1995/96 UEFA Cup final, where they lost 5-1 on aggregate to FC Bayern München.

• Bordeaux's next goal will be their 250th in UEFA competition.

• The round of 16 features teams from 11 UEFA member associations; eight nations have a single representative, with England and Russia both taking three teams through and Italy two.

• Jorge Jesus started his career as a midfielder at Sporting Clube de Portugal, and played for a number of smaller sides, hanging up his boots in 1989. He worked his way up the leagues as a coach, with successful spells at CF Os Belenenses and SC Braga – who he led to the 2008/09 UEFA Europa League round of 16 – heralding a move to Benfica. In 2009/10, he won the Portuguese title in his first season with the Eagles.

• Bordeaux coach Francis Gillot was a defender who spent the bulk of his playing career at RC Lens. He coached at the FC Sochaux-Montbéliard academy before returning to Lens to take joint charge and then sole command of the first team in January 2005. Subsequent spells with Sochaux and, since 2011, Bordeaux have cemented his reputation as a straight-talking coach with a penchant for attacking football.