United out to maintain French resistance

Manchester United FC have never lost to French opposition at Old Trafford and host Olympique de Marseille with a UEFA Champions League quarter-final place at stake and all to play for following a goalless first leg in France.

• United are seeking a fifth successive quarter-final appearance while for Marseille, the goal is to reach the last eight of the competition for the first time since lifting the trophy in 1992/93. The Ligue 1 side have managed just a single last-16 appearance, in 1999/2000, since that triumph.

Previous meetings
• The clubs met in the 1999/2000 first group stage, United winning 2-1 at home after Andrew Cole (78) and Paul Scholes (82) overturned Ibrahima Bakayoko's opener. William Gallas (69) hit the only goal of the return but United still topped the group with Rolland Courbis' OM second.

• The full lineups for their Old Trafford encounter on 29 September 1999 were:
Man United: Van der Gouw, Irwin, Stam, Berg (Sheringham 76), Phil Neville, Beckham, Butt, Scholes, Solskjær (Fortune 71), Yorke, Cole (Clegg 86).
Marseille: Porato, Blondeau, Gallas, Fischer, Perez, Issa (Belmadi 81), Luccin (De la Peña 76), Dalmat, Brando, Ravanelli (Pirès 61), Bakayoko.

Match background
• United have won eight and drawn three of 11 previous encounters against Ligue 1 sides at Old Trafford. They overcame LOSC Lille Métropole 1-0 to complete a 2-0 aggregate success in the round of 16 in 2006/07, then defeated Olympique Lyonnais by the same margin 12 months later for a 2-1 overall victory.

• Sir Alex Ferguson's men are also unbeaten at Old Trafford in this season's competition, drawing with Rangers FC (0-0) and Valencia CF (1-1) and beating Bursaspor 1-0.

• Marseille recorded two resounding victories on the road in the group stage. Although they lost 2-0 at Chelsea FC on Matchday 2 they subsequently achieved a striking 7-0 success at MŠK Žilina – the biggest by an away team in the UEFA Champions League – and a 3-0 triumph at FC Spartak Moskva.

• Marseille have won only once previously in England, Mathieu Valbuena scoring the only goal in a 1-0 success at Liverpool FC in the 2007/08 group stage. Their overall record is W1 D3 L5.

• In two-legged ties against rivals from across the Channel, Marseille's record is W3 L1, United's W4 L1.

• United have won eight of the 12 UEFA competition ties in which they have drawn the first leg away from home, although they have won only five of the nine in which the first game finished goalless. In recent UEFA Champions League campaigns they have eliminated FC Internazionale Milano (2008/09 round of 16: 0-0 away, 2-0 home) and FC Barcelona (2007/08 semi-finals: 0-0 away, 1-0 home), although they were also knocked out by Real Madrid CF (1999/2000 quarter-finals: 0-0 away, 2-3 home) and AS Monaco FC (1997/98 quarter-finals: 0-0 away, 1-1 home).

• Marseille, meanwhile, have won two of the three UEFA competition ties in which they have drawn the first leg at home. Those two victories both came on away goals after a scoreless opening match, OM overcoming FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in the 2006 UEFA Intertoto Cup third round (2-2 away) and Bologna FC in the 1998/99 UEFA Cup semi-finals (1-1 away).

• United's record in shoot-outs in UEFA competition is:
6-5 v Chelsea, 2007/08 UEFA Champions League final
3-4 v FC Torpedo Moskva, 1992/93 UEFA Cup first round
4-5 v FC Fehérvár, 1984/85 UEFA Cup quarter-finals

• Marseille's record is:
7-6 v FC Twente, 2008/09 UEFA Cup round of 32
4-1 v KFC Germinal Beerschot Antwerpen, 2005/06 UEFA Cup first round
3-5 v FK Crvena zvezda, 1990/91 European Champion Clubs' Cup final

Team ties
• OM coach Didier Deschamps faced United five times as a player in the UEFA Champions League with Juventus. He was on the winning side in the first two matches in 1996/97, but was sent off in a 3-2 loss at Old Trafford the next season, and in 1998/99 suffered a semi-final defeat by Sir Alex's men. He enjoyed a 5-0 win against United during his solitary season with Chelsea FC in 1999/2000. His overall record against United prior to this tie reads W3 D1 L3.

• Gabriel Heinze spent three seasons with United from 2004, collecting a Premier League winners' medal in 2007 before joining Real Madrid CF.

• Valbuena scored and Loïc Rémy appeared as a substitute in France's 2-1 win away to Rio Ferdinand's England last November.

• Javier Hernández came off the bench to score Mexico's first goal in a 2-0 defeat of France at the 2010 FIFA World Cup. André-Pierre Gignac and Valbuena appeared as substitutes for a France side captained by Patrice Evra.

• Evra played under Deschamps in the Monaco side that lost the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League final to FC Porto.

• Lucho González was in the Porto team eliminated by United in the 2008/09 quarter-finals. He and Anderson were team-mates at the Portuguese club from 2006 to 2007.

• Gabriel Obertan appeared twice against OM in Ligue 1 with FC Girondins de Bordeaux – a 2-1 win in Marseille in May 2008, and a 1-1 home draw in September the same year.

• Souleymane Diawara played alongside Obertan at Bordeaux in 2007/08, featuring in a 2-0 defeat at United in February 2007.

• Edouard Cissé appeared for West Ham United FC in a 6-0 FA Cup loss at United in January 2003 during a season's loan in England. He was later in the Beşiktaş JK side beaten 8-0 at Liverpool in the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League group stage.