Wolfsburg v LOSC background
Monday, September 22, 2014
Article summary
VfL Wolfsburg and LOSC Lille will look to get their first UEFA Europa League wins on the board, with a number of former team-mates set for reunions in Group H.
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Article body
VfL Wolfsburg and LOSC Lille will look to get their first UEFA Europa League triumphs of 2014/15 on the board as they meet in Group H.
Form guide
• Wolfsburg have not won in their last four home games against French sides (D2 L2), and LOSC have yet to win in four visits to Germany (D1 L3), in which they have scored only one goal.
• This is Wolfsburg's first European home fixture since they lost 1-0 to Fulham FC in the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League quarter-finals.
• LOSC have not won in nine UEFA Europa League away matches (D4 L5) since a 5-1 success at SK Slavia Praha in the 2009/10 group stage – their biggest win, home or away, in UEFA competition.
Trivia and links
• LOSC's Danish defender Simon Kjær played for Wolfsburg from 2010 to 2013.
• Wolfsburg's French midfielder Josuha Guilavogui met LOSC seven times as an AS Saint-Étienne player without winning (D2 L5). He was sent off in a 1-1 draw against LOSC on 26 May 2013.
• Wolfsburg's Ivan Perišić started his playing career in France, playing for FC Sochaux-Montbéliard's reserves. He was a trainee at the club at the same time as LOSC's Marvin Martin.
• Wolfsburg's Junior Malanda and LOSC's Jonathan Delaplace were midfield team-mates at SV Zulte-Waregem from 2012 to 2013.
• LOSC forward Divock Origi and Wolfsburg midfielder Kevin De Bruyne are international team-mates with Belgium.
The coaches
• At one stage a lower-league midfielder and trainee policeman, Wolfsburg coach Dieter Hecking is back in Europe for the first time since leading second-tier TSV Alemannia Aachen into the 2004/05 UEFA Cup group stage. More recently, he has coached Hannover 96 and 1. FC Nürnberg, taking up his current post in December 2012.
• As a midfielder, LOSC coach René Girard won three titles and two French Cups with FC Girondins de Bordeaux in the 1980s. After a long spell coaching national age-group teams, he won Ligue 1 as Montpellier Hérault SC boss in 2011/12, moving to Lille in July 2013.
