Fiorentina aim to follow Lyon's lead

ACF Fiorentina can secure their place in the UEFA Champions League knockout rounds with victory against an Olympique Lyonnais team already assured of progress for the seventh consecutive campaign.

• The Viola, who hold a five-point lead over third-placed Liverpool FC in Group E, last made it through to the last 16 a decade ago when they qualified at the expense of another English club, Arsenal FC. The Matchday 4 results – Fiorentina overcoming Debreceni VSC 5-2 in Florence and Lisandro's 90th-minute goal earning Lyon a 1-1 draw against Liverpool, plus a place in the last 16 – mean they can repeat that feat by beating the very side who knocked them out of the competition 12 months ago.

Previous meetings
• This fixture falls a day short of the anniversary of the clubs' meeting in Florence in last season's group stage, which Lyon won 2-1 to make sure of a top-two finish and confirm Fiorentina's elimination.

• Jean II Makoun and Karim Benzema struck the first-half goals that earned Lyon victory that night, despite Alberto Gilardino's reply on the stroke of half-time.

• The full lineups were:
Fiorentina: Frey, Zauri, Gamberini, Dainelli (Krøldrup 46), Vargas, Felipe Melo (Osvaldo 79), Montolivo, Kuzmanović, Santana (Jovetić 55), Mutu, Gilardino.
Lyon: Lloris, Mensah, Cris, Boumsong, Grosso, Toulalan, Makoun, Juninho, Govou, Keita (Ederson 80), Benzema (Piquionne 90+1).

• The teams had earlier drawn 2-2 in their opening match at the Stade de Gerland, Frédéric Piquionne and Benzema cancelling out two first-half goals by Gilardino.

Match background
• Something will have to give at the Stadio Artemio Franchi where both sides will be looking to maintain 100 per cent winning records. Fiorentina are seeking a third straight home success and Lyon a third victory on their travels in Group E.

• Fiorentina have won only one of their five previous home games against French visitors, while Lyon have recorded four victories and one draw in seven previous visits to Italy.

Team ties
• Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli twice overcame French opposition en route to European honours as a Juventus player. In 1983/84 he was in the side that beat Paris Saint-Germain FC on away goals in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup second round. The next season Prandelli appeared in the second leg of the European Champion Clubs' Cup semi-final against FC Girondins de Bordeaux – Juventus lost 2-0 on the night but advanced 3-2 on aggregate.

• Viola forward Gilardino was in the Milan team that beat Lyon in the 2005/06 quarter-finals. He played in the stalemate in France but remained on the bench for Milan's 3-1 second-leg success.

• Gilardino scored for Italy against France in a UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifier in Paris, but his team went down 3-1 with Lyon's Sidney Govou scoring twice.

• Sébastien Frey came up against Lyon while at AS Cannes, losing 2-0 in April 1998. He was also in the Parma FC side beaten by LOSC Lille Métropole in the 2001/02 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round.

• As coach of Lille, Claude Puel oversaw a 2-0 victory at eventual winners AC Milan in the 2006/07 group stage that took his team into the last 16.

• Puel had mixed fortunes against Italian opponents as a player. He was in the AS Monaco FC team beaten by UC Sampdoria in the 1989/90 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup semi-finals but, in the same competition two years later, helped Monaco overcome AS Roma in the quarter-finals en route to the final.