Strasbourg set aside domestic strife

After ensuring that PFC Litex Lovech's first encounter with Ligue 1 opposition ended in disappointment, RC Strasbourg will be keen to make their maiden foray onto French turf equally unrewarding as they look to build on their 2-0 first-leg victory. Ulrich Le Pen and Amara Diané were both on target at the Gradski stadium, scoring either side of Milivoje Novakovič's 79th-minute penalty miss as Strasbourg brushed aside their domestic travails.

• Strasbourg have been doing so all season, their position at the wrong end of Ligue 1 in stark contrast to an impressive European campaign that saw them progress easily from a difficult-looking group. Like Litex, Jacky Duguépéroux's side got off to a great start, Diané and Arthur Boka laying down the platform for a 2-0 win at FC Basel 1893 with goals inside the first 25 minutes. They then defeated Tromsø IL by the same margin before drawing their final two games against AS Roma and FK Crvena Zvezda.

• Litex got their group campaign off to the best possible start, Novakovič's early goal setting them on course for a 2-1 win at home to Grasshopper-Club on Matchday 1. The Slovenian was on target again on Matchday 2 as Litex made it six points in two games with a 2-0 win at FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. But successive defeats by the same margin against Middlesbrough FC and AZ Alkmaar spoiled their progress and they scraped through in third.

• The French side do not have the best of records against Bulgarian opposition, however, despite winning their first encounter against PFC Slavia Sofia in the second round of the 1966 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. That came in the first leg but Strasbourg were unable to hold them off in the second leg, losing 2-0. They had to wait 30 years for their next game against opposition from the Bulgarian capital, drawing 0-0 against PFC CSKA Sofia in the UEFA Intertoto Cup.