Sion v Liverpool background

FC Sion can ill afford a second successive Group B defeat as they look to cling on against Liverpool FC and claim a place in the UEFA Europa League round of 32.

• Liverpool are through and will top the group with a draw.

• Sion trail Rubin on head-to-head record so still need a point if the Russian club win.

Previous meetings
• Sion earned a 1-1 draw at Liverpool on matchday two, in what was Brendan Rodgers' final  European game in charge of the Reds.

• Roy Evans' Liverpool eliminated Alberto Bigon's Sion in the 1996/97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup second round, winning 2-1 in Switzerland and 6-3 at Anfield.

• Sion were the first visiting team to score three times in a European fixture at Anfield; only FC Barcelona (1-3, 2001), Chelsea FC (1-3, 2009), Udinese Calcio (2-3, 2012) and Real Madrid CF (0-3, 2014) have done so since.

• Those meetings with Liverpool are Sion's only previous matches against English opponents.

• Liverpool's 13 outings against Swiss sides have ended W6 D5 L2 (W3 D1 L2 in Switzerland).

Form guide
• Sion have scored five and conceded five in Group B – averaging one goal a game on both counts.

• Liverpool have drawn eight of their 17 UEFA Europa League group stage fixtures to date (W7 D8 L2).

• Sion are featuring in the group stage of a major UEFA competition for the first time.

• Liverpool advanced to the knockout phase in both previous UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns – 2010/11 and 2012/13 – so have made it three out of three this term.

Trivia and links
• The journey from Liverpool to Sion is just shy of 1,100km.

• Sion left-back Reto Ziegler spent one full season in England with Tottenham Hotspur FC and also played on loan at Wigan Athletic FC. He figured in three matches against Liverpool: two draws with Tottenham and a 1-0 loss with Wigan. He scored in a penalty shoot-out for the north Londoners against the Reds and also registered his only league goal for Spurs versus Liverpool's neighbours Everton FC.

• Sion's Montenegrin international defender Elsad Zverotić was also in England with Fulham FC up until last summer.

• Sion winger Geoffrey Mujangi Bia played on loan with English sides Wolverhampton Wanderers FC and Watford FC earlier in his career.

The coaches
• A UEFA Cup finalist with FC Girondins de Bordeaux in 1996, French striker Didier Tholot ended his playing career as player-coach at Sion and took charge of the club for a third time in 2014. He led Sion to Swiss Cup success in 2009 during his second stint and lifted that trophy again last term.

• Tholot, now 51, briefly played lower-league football in England with Walsall FC in 1998.

• Liverpool manager since 2012, Brendan Rodgers was sacked on 4 October after an uninspiring run of results.

• Rodgers' replacement is former Borussia Dortmund boss Jürgen Klopp. The 48-year-old enjoyed an immensely successful spell at the Westfalenstadion, winning the Bundesliga in 2010/11, completing the double the next season and narrowly missing out against FC Bayern München in the 2013 UEFA Champions League final.