Betis v Rennes background

After sharing six goals in the highest-scoring of this season's round of 32 first legs, Betis and Rennes come together again in Seville to decide who will make further UEFA Europa League progress. The Spanish club conceded more goals in Brittany than during the whole of the group stage but a late equaliser protected their undefeated run in the competition.

• Betis made impressive progress to the knockout phase through Group F, where they posted three wins and three draws to qualify with a game to spare and finish two points above both Olympiacos and eliminated AC Milan.

• Rennes recovered from three successive defeats to take Group K's runners-up spot thanks to victories at Jablonec (1-0) and – in a must-win decider – at home to Astana on matchday six (2-0).

Previous meetings
• Rennes were 2-0 up inside the first ten minutes at the Roazhon Park, but Betis pulled a goal back with Giovani Lo Celso's fourth of the competition before a Hatem Ben Arfa penalty restored the home side's two-goal lead. Betis responded with further strikes from Sidnei and, in the final minute, substitute Diego Lainez, who made it 3-3 with his first goal for the club.

• Betis are unbeaten in four home games against French teams, the three wins all being by single-goal margins and the one draw having come in the most recent such fixture – and the only one in the UEFA Europa League – when they were held 0-0 by Lyon on matchday one of the 2013/14 campaign.

• Rennes have drawn one and lost one of their two games in Spain, the most recent visit, in the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League group stage, resulting in a 3-1 defeat to eventual winners Atlético Madrid.

Form guide
Betis
• Betis finished one place and two points above Sevilla in last season's Liga to clinch an automatic UEFA Europa League group stage spot at their city rivals' expense.

• Prior to this season, Betis's last opponents in Europe were Sevilla as they lost to the eventual winners on penalties in the 2013/14 UEFA Europa League round of 16 after both clubs had won 2-0 at their opponents' stadium.

• That was Betis's first European adventure in eight years; in the round of 32 they overcame Rubin Kazan 3-1 on aggregate (1-1 home, 2-0 away) to set up that all-Andalusian showdown.

• Betis won only two of their six home games during that 2013/14 European run, a feat they have already matched this term with victories over Dudelange (3-0) and Olympiacos (1-0) to add to a 1-1 draw against Milan. Sevilla are the only team to have beaten them in their last nine European fixtures at the Estadio Benito Villamarín.

• Betis have drawn the first away leg of three previous UEFA competition ties, winning two and losing one, the most recent, in the fourth round of the 2005/06 UEFA Cup when they followed up a 0-0 draw at Steaua Bucureşti by losing the second leg 0-3 at home. They have never previously drawn 3-3 away in the first leg.

Rennes
• Rennes earned their first ever qualifying exemption for the group stage of a major UEFA competition by finishing fifth in Ligue 1 last season.

• They have competed in the UEFA Europa League proper once before, in 2011/12, after coming through two qualifying rounds, but went out in the group stage after losing all three away fixtures and drawing all three at home – against Atlético Madrid, Celtic and Udinese. That was the club's last European campaign before this one.

• Rennes participated twice in the UEFA Cup group stage, in 2005/06 and 2007/08, but were winless in those too (D2 L6), losing all four away games. They finally recorded their first group win by defeating Jablonec 2-1 at home on matchday one this season thanks to a last-minute penalty.

• It was also against Jablonec, with a 1-0 win in the Czech Republic on matchday five, that Rennes ended an eight-match losing streak on their European travels outside the summer months – a run lasting over 11 years.

• Only once previously in UEFA competition have Rennes drawn the first leg at home – 1-1 against Rangers in the first round of the 1971/72 European Cup Winners' Cup. They lost the return 1-0 in Glasgow to the eventual competition winners.

UEFA Europa League squad changes
• Betis
In: Diego Lainez, Jesé Rodríguez, Emerson
Out: Ryad Boudebouz, Takashi Inui, Toni Sanabria

• Rennes
In: Souleyman Doumbia, Loïc Badiashile, Armand Lauriente, Eduardo Camavinga, Isaac Matondo
Out: Ludovic Baal, Denis Will Poha

Links and trivia 
• Betis right-back Aïssa Mandi played for Reims between 2010 and 2016. He faced Rennes on seven occasions (W2 D1 L4), scoring twice.

• Mandi is an Algeria team-mate of Rennes duo Ramy Bensebaini and Mehdi Zeffane.

• Lo Celso is on loan at Betis from French champions Paris Saint-Germain, where he arrived in 2016. He has played against Rennes twice with Paris (W1 L1).

• Rennes are one of only five clubs involved in this round of 32 who have never previously participated in the UEFA Europa League knockout phase; Dinamo Zagreb, Slavia Praha, Zürich and Malmö are the others.

• Betis are one of seven teams to have come through the UEFA Europa League group stage undefeated, and are now one of only four to have retained that status after the round of 32 first legs alongside Chelsea, Villarreal and Eintracht Frankfurt.

• Betis conceded only two goals in the group stage – the joint best record alongside Arsenal (Group E).

Penalty shoot-outs
• Rennes's record in one UEFA penalty shoot-out is W1 L0:
10-9 v Tavriya Simferopol, 2008 UEFA Intertoto Cup third round

• Betis's record in two UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W0 L2:
3-5 v Universitatea Craiova, 1984/85 UEFA Cup first round
3-4 v Sevilla, 2013/14 UEFA Europa League round of 16

The coaches
• A former midfielder capped three times by Spain, Santander-born Quique Setién spent most of his playing career with home-town club Real Racing Club, his two lengthy spells there interrupted by shorter stints at Atlético Madrid and Logroñés. His coaching career also began at Racing and eventually prospered in the Canary Islands with Las Palmas. Setién returned to the Spanish mainland to take charge of Betis in May 2017, leading the Seville club to sixth in the Liga at the end of his first season.

• There was a change of coach at Rennes on 3 December with the dismissal of Sabri Lamouchi. His place was initially taken on an interim basis by reserve team boss Julien Stéphan, whose first two Ligue 1 matches in charge both resulted in 2-0 wins, prompting the club to give him a deal until the end of the season on 12 December, the day before he led the club past Astana into the UEFA Europa League round of 32. He is the son of Guy Stéphan, the assistant coach to Didier Deschamps of reigning world champions France.