Monaco v Tottenham background

AS Monaco FC got the better of Tottenham Hotspur FC in a pre-season friendly in 2013 and will look to repeat that result for real in UEFA Europa League Group J.

Previous meetings
• The clubs are meeting for the first time in UEFA competition, but Claudio Ranieri's Monaco beat a Tottenham side led by André Villas-Boas 5-2 in a pre-season friendly in August 2013.

• Andrea Raggi, Lucas Ocampos, Radamel Falcao (2) and Mounir Obbadi were the Monaco scorers, Harry Kane and Andros Townsend on target for the visitors.

• Monaco's record in 12 games against English teams is W6 D3 L3 (W3 D1 L2 at home – W3 D2 L1 in England). Most recently, they eliminated Spurs' north London rivals Arsenal FC from last season's UEFA Champions League round of 16, proceeding on away goals despite a 2-0 home defeat.

• Tottenham's record in six matches against French opposition is W3 D2 L1 (W3 D0 L0 at home – W0 D2 L1 in France). They scored only once in those three fixtures in France.

Form guide
• Monaco registered just seven goals in their ten-game voyage to the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals last term; they have already scored 11 this season.

• Spurs have lost their two most recent European away matches without scoring.

• Monaco were successful in their only previous UEFA Cup or UEFA Europa League group stage campaign, making it to the round of 32 in 2005/06.

• In seven preceding UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League campaigns, Tottenham have failed just once to reach the round of 32 – missing the cut in 2011/12.

Trivia and links
• The journey from London to Monaco is just over 1,000km.

• This is Monaco's 50th UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League fixture; the previous 49 ended W26 D10 L13.

• Monaco's Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea FC, 2004–10) and Marcos Lopes (Manchester City FC, 2013–15) have played in England. Midfielder Mario Pašalić is on loan from Chelsea.

• Spurs' French international goalkeeper Hugo Lloris knows Monaco well from his time with OGC Nice and Olympique Lyonnais. Their Algerian midfielder Nabil Bentaleb was also born in France.

• Young Tottenham forward Clinton Njié began his career in France with Lyon.

• The two clubs have some notable former players in common: Glenn Hoddle, Dimitar Berbatov, Jürgen Klinsmann and Emmanuel Adebayor.

The coaches
• Venezuela-born Leonardo Jardim has been Monaco boss since 2014. A coach from his mid-20s onwards, he managed SC Beira-Mar and SC Braga in the Portuguese top flight, then tried his luck in Greece with Olympiacos FC before earning a second-placed Liga finish with a young Sporting Clube de Portugal side in 2013/14.

• Mauricio Pochettino has been manager of Tottenham since 2014, the former RCD Espanyol and Paris Saint-Germain defender brought to London after an impressive 18 months at Southampton FC. He was capped 20 times by Argentina, featuring at the 2002 FIFA World Cup finals.