Fiorentina v Tottenham background

ACF Fiorentina eliminated Tottenham Hotspur FC at this stage last season and will aim for a repeat result as the sides reconvene in Italy for their UEFA Europa League round of 32 opener.

Previous meetings
• The clubs met in the 2014/15 round of 32, Vincenzo Montella's Viola drawing 1-1 at White Hart Lane before eliminating Mauricio Pochettino's Spurs with a 2-0 win in Florence.

• The teams for that last encounter in Tuscany, on 26 February 2015, were:
Fiorentina: Neto, Richards, Badelj, Pizarro, Matías Fernández (Aquilani 25), Savić, Joaquín (Pasqual 84), Basanta (Gonzalo Rodríguez 57), Marcos Alonso, Gomez, Salah.
Tottenham: Lloris, Vertonghen (Walker 75), Chiricheş, Soldado, Lamela, Fazio, Chadli (Townsend 63), Eriksen, Stambouli, Davies, Bentaleb (Kane 63).

• The sides' only previous meetings had been in two pre-season friendlies in London, Spurs prevailing 3-0 in 2001 and 3-2 in 2010.

• Fiorentina have yet to lose – or concede a goal – in five home encounters with English opposition (W4 D1). Their record in ten UEFA games against English sides is W6 D2 L2 (W2 D1 L2 in England).

• Spurs' 13 UEFA fixtures against Italian teams have ended W4 D5 L4 (W3 D3 L0 in London – W1 D2 L4 in Italy). That lone away win was a 1-0 success at AC Milan in a 2010/11 UEFA Champions League round of 16 tie.

Form guide
• Fiorentina's 1-0 victory against Os Belenenses on matchday six ended a run of three straight European home defeats.

• Spurs have won only one of their last five European away games – 1-0 at Qarabağ FK on matchday five.

• The Viola lost to eventual winners Sevilla FC in last season's UEFA Europa League semi-finals. They reached the 1990 UEFA Cup final but succumbed to Juventus over two legs. Their only major European title remains the 1961 European Cup Winners' Cup, where they beat Rangers FC in the final.

• Spurs are through to the round of 32 for the fourth season in succession, with Fiorentina the only team to deny them a round of 16 place during that run. Spurs won the UEFA Cup in 1972 and 1984, having earlier claimed the 1963 European Cup Winners' Cup.

Trivia and links
• The journey from London to Florence is around 1,200km.

• Fiorentina were the most fouled side in this season's UEFA Europa League group stage, with 105 infringements against them. However, they also received the most red cards: three.

• Fiorentina striker Nikola Kalinić was a losing UEFA Europa League finalist with FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk last season.

• Fiorentina's Marcos Alonso (Bolton Wanderers FC, Sunderland AFC), Kalinić (Blackburn Rovers FC), Borja Valero (West Bromwich Albion FC) and Mauro Zárate (Birmingham City FC, Queens Park Rangers FC and West Ham United FC) have all played in England.

• Erik Lamela is the sole Tottenham player with Serie A experience, having represented AS Roma from 2011 to 2013.

The coaches
• A European champion as a player with Juventus (1996) and Borussia Dortmund (1997), former Portugal midfielder Paulo Sousa joined Fiorentina in June. He is on the hunt for a third league title in as many seasons, having won the 2013/14 Israeli crown with Maccabi Tel Aviv FC and the Swiss top flight last term with Basel.

• Sousa also managed in England from 2008 to 2010, leading Queens Park Rangers FC, Swansea City AFC and Leicester City FC.

• Mauricio Pochettino has been manager of Tottenham since summer 2014, the former RCD Espanyol and Paris Saint-Germain defender brought to London after an impressive 18 months at Southampton FC. The 43-year-old was capped 20 times by Argentina, featuring at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.