Same again for Lyon and Fiorentina

Olympique Lyonnais and ACF Fiorentina could be forgiven a feeling of déjà vu when they contest their opening Group E match at the Stade de Gerland. It is an exact rerun of their opening match of the last UEFA Champions League season when Lyon fought back from two goals behind to earn a 2-2 draw.

Previous meetings
• It was on 17 September last year that Lyon kicked off the 2008/09 campaign with an exciting comeback, Frédéric Piquionne and Karim Benzema scoring in the final 20 minutes to cancel out Alberto Gilardino's first-half double.

• The full lineups were:
Lyon: Hugo Lloris, Anthony Réveillère, Jean-Alain Boumsong, Mathieu Bodmer, Kim Källström, Jérémy Toulalan, Jean II Makoun (Ederson 60), Juninho Pernambucano, Sidney Govou (Anthony Mounier 89), Fred (Frédéric Piquionne 65), Karim Benzema.
Fiorentina: Sébastien Frey, Luciano Zauri (Martin Jørgensen 76), Per Krøldrup, Juan Manuel Vargas, Dario Dainelli, Sergio Almirón, Felipe Melo, Riccardo Montolivo, Zdravko Kuzmanović (Mario Alberto Santana 64), Adrian Mutu, Alberto Gilardino (Giampaolo Pazzini 81).

• Lyon won the return in Florence 2-1 on 25 November to secure their place in the last 16 and end the Viola's hopes of progress. Makoun (15) and Benzema (27) struck for the visitors before Gilardino halved the deficit (45).

• The full lineups were:
Lyon: Hugo Lloris, John Mensah, Cris, Jean-Alain Boumsong, Fabio Grosso, Jérémy Toulalan, Jean II Makoun, Juninho Pernambucano, Sidney Govou, Karim Benzema (Frédéric Piquionne 90), Kader Keita (Ederson 80).
Fiorentina: Sébastien Frey, Luciano Zauri, Dario Dainelli (Per Krøldrup 46), Alessandro Gamberini, Juan Manuel Vargas, Zdravko Kuzmanović, Felipe Melo (Pablo Daniel Osvaldo 79), Riccardo Montolivo, Mario Alberto Santana (Steven Jovetić 55), Alberto Gilardino, Adrian Mutu.

• Lyon have won none of their last four home meetings against Serie A visitors.

Match background
• Lyon are competing in the UEFA Champions League group stage for the tenth season running and progressed to the knockout rounds in each of the past six campaigns.

• After losing out to Lyon and FC Bayern München last term, Fiorentina will try again to reach the last 16 – a feat accomplished once before by the Viola in the UEFA Champions League era, in 1999/00.

• Cesare Prandelli's men have proved hard to beat on their recent travels in UEFA club competition, losing just one of their last eight games on the road.

Team ties
• As coach of LOSC Lille Métropole, 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.

• 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.

• 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.

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