Lyon fortress prepared for Plzeň

Low-scoring Olympique Lyonnais will look to avoid becoming the latest victims of FC Viktoria Plzeň, who can now count FC Shakhtar Donetsk among their springtime European conquests, in the UEFA Europa League round of 16.

Previous meetings
• The sides are meeting for the first time in UEFA competition, and this will be Plzeň's first encounter with French opponents.

• Lyon's six games against Czech opponents have ended W3 D2 L1 (W2 D1 L0 at home).

• This will be the 50th meeting between French and Czech clubs in UEFA competition. The French sides have had the better of the first 49, with the record W19 D15 L15 (W14 D8 L2 in France).

Match background
• Lyon's round of 32 success against FC Chornomorets Odesa was their first springtime European triumph in three seasons since reaching the UEFA Champions League semi-finals in 2009/10; they fell in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 in 2010/11 and 2011/12 and lost to Tottenham Hotspur FC in the last 32 of this competition in 2012/13.

• Lyon came through the UEFA Europa League group stage unbeaten (W3 D3), but averaged just one goal per match.

• Plzeň beat 2009 UEFA Cup winners Shakhtar 3-2 on aggregate in the last 32 and are in the round of 16 for the second season in succession. Last term they lost to Fenerbahçe SK at this stage.

• The Czech club are unbeaten in their last five away games in the UEFA Europa League (W3 D2) since a 2-1 loss at Club Atlético de Madrid in last season's group stage.

Team facts
• Lyon midfielder Jordan Ferri celebrated his 22nd birthday on 12 March, the eve of the Plzeň game.

• Lyon come into the round of 16 as the most fouled side left in the competition, with 119 incursions against them – two more than their nearest rivals, PFC Ludogorets Razgrad.

• Plzeň are among five domestic champions in the round of 16, along with FC Basel 1893 (Switzerland), Juventus (Italy), PFC Ludogorets Razgrad (Bulgaria) and FC Porto (Portugal).

• Lyon are one of six qualifiers from the group stage who remain unbeaten after eight games, the others being Ludogorets, ACF Fiorentina, Sevilla FC, FC Salzburg and AZ Alkmaar.

Coach information
• Rémi Garde has spent much of his career with Lyon, taking over as first-team coach in June 2011. As a defensive midfielder he captained Les Gones and won six caps for France, ending his career with spells at RC Strasbourg and Arsenal FC, with whom he won the 1997/98 English double. After a spell as a pundit he joined Lyon's coaching staff and was assistant to Paul Le Guen and Gérard Houllier before taking charge of the club's training centre and subsequently becoming head coach.

• Pavel Vrba stepped down as Plzeň coach at the end of 2013 to take charge of the Czech national team.

• Dušan Uhrin Jr now leads Plzeň. The 46-year-old son of celebrated Czech coach Dušan Uhrin, he had his playing career ruined by injury but thrived as a coach at Bohemians 1905 and FK Mladá Boleslav before heading abroad to lead FC Timişoara and AEL Limassol FC, then winning a domestic double in Georgia with FC Dinamo Tbilisi in 2012/13.