Albania look to grasp France chance

Albania lie fifth in Group D, but are by no means out of the running for a UEFA EURO 2012 place as section leaders France come to Tirana.

• Second from bottom Albania are only five points adrift of France in a fiercely competitive section and have yet to lose at home in Group D, recording two wins and a draw; Laurent Blanc's France boast the same record in their away games in the section.

• This will be the nations' third meeting. Their only previous encounters came in qualifying for the 1992 UEFA European Championship; Basile Boli scored the only goal as France won 1-0 in Tirana on 17 November 1990, with the return fixture in Paris ending 5-0 – Franck Sauzee and Jean-Pierre Papin scored twice each in the first half, with Hysen Zmijani's own goal nine minutes from the end completing the rout.

• Current France coach Blanc featured from start to finish in both of those fixtures.

• Albania's Croatian boss Josip Kuže led NK Dinamo Zagreb in a 1989/90 UEFA Cup defeat against AJ Auxerre; his side won 1-0 in France but lost the return leg 3-1 in Croatia.

• The outcome was the same when he led Dinamo into a second meeting with Auxerre in the 2006/07 competition; his side lost 2-1 at home and 3-1 away.