Montpellier buoyed by Olympiacos history

Olympiacos FC have an immediate reunion with Montpellier Hérault SC and will be seeking to build on their first victory, achieved in France on matchday three. To do so, however, they must improve their recent record at home to Ligue 1 opponents.

• Prior to the teams' first meeting, Olympiacos had lost 2-1 at home to FC Schalke 04 and gone down 3-1 at Arsenal FC. Souleymane Camara scored a 90th-minute equaliser to earn Montpellier a 2-2 draw in Germany on matchday two and get their Group B campaign off the ground after the opening 2-1 home loss to Arsenal.

• That momentum was checked on matchday three, however, Kostas Mitroglou coming off the bench to give Olympiacos a 2-1 win a minute into added time. Gaëtan Charbonnier (49) had put the home team in front only for captain Vassilis Torossidis (73) to set the stage for Mitroglou's late intervention.

Match background
• The game at La Mosson was the first occasion Montpellier, French champions for the first time in 2011/12, have faced Greek opponents.

• Olympiacos have lost their last four home games against visitors from France. In the first eight such contests they lost just once, winning five and drawing two.

• In last season's group stage the Greek champions faced Olympique de Marseille, each match ending 1-0 in favour of the away team. The result in France brought to an end a run of seven successive defeats, home and away, against Ligue 1 clubs.

• The last time Olympiacos beat a French team at home came in the 2004/05 UEFA Cup round of 32 when they beat FC Sochaux-Montbéliard 1-0. Romain Pitau was in the Sochaux side, playing all 180 minutes of a tie the Piraeus outfit won 2-0 on aggregate.

• Olympiacos are in their 14th participation in the UEFA Champions League and will be hoping to at least match their feats of both 2009/10 and 2007/08, when they reached the round of 16.

• The defeat by Marseille last season was followed by home victories against Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal as the Greek team finished third in the group.

Team ties
• Djamel Abdoun played once under René Girard for France's Under-21 team and scored the opening goal in a 4-1 friendly win against Germany U21s in June 2007.

• François Modesto started his first-team career at SC Bastia in 1997/98, the first of his two seasons with the club, and later spent six years at AS Monaco FC (2004-10) before joining Olympiacos. He was a team-mate of Camara at Monaco between 2004 and 2006. Pablo Contreras had two years with Monaco between 1999 and 2001.

• Paulo Machado had four years in Ligue 1 starting in 2008, when he was on loan at AS Saint-Étienne from FC Porto. In 2009 he signed for Toulouse FC, from whom he joined Olympiacos in the summer.

• Rafik Djebbour began his career in the youth ranks of AJ Auxerre in 1998, staying in Burgundy until 2004.

• Abdoun played for AC Ajaccio, CS Sedan Ardennes and FC Nantes in a six-year period from 2004. Marko Pantelić had one season with Paris Saint-Germain FC (1997/98) but made only three substitute appearances in Ligue 1.

• Contreras and Marco Estrada are team-mates in the Chilean national team.