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Victory the sole target for Lille

A win at home against eliminated SK Slavia Praha will guarantee LOSC Lille Métropole a place in the UEFA Europa League round of 32, with anything else potentially spelling Group B disaster.

Victory the sole target for Lille
Victory the sole target for Lille ©UEFA.com

A win at home against eliminated SK Slavia Praha will guarantee LOSC Lille Métropole a place in the UEFA Europa League round of 32, with anything else potentially spelling Group B disaster.

• Level on seven points with Genoa CFC, but with a superior head-to-head record, Lille will qualify provided they do not get a worse result than the Italian side can muster at home against section pacesetters Valencia CF.

Previous meetings
• Lille won 5-1 at Slavia on Matchday 2, with their first game against Czech opposition ending in a record home defeat for the hosts. Slavia's three previous trips to France have ended in a win, a loss and – most recently – a 2-2 draw at OGC Nice in 1997.

Match background
• Slavia battled through to the UEFA Cup round of 32 on their group-stage debut in 2005/06 but missed the cut in the final edition last season. Lille reached the round of 16 following their only group-stage campaign in 2004/05.

• Unbeaten in four European home games since a 1-0 defeat by Manchester United FC in the UEFA Champions League on 20 February 2007, Lille have lost only once in 13 UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League home fixtures (v AJ Auxerre on 10 March 2005).

• Slavia have not won in 12 European away games since a 1-0 triumph at AFC Ajax on 15 August 2007. They have not won in nine UEFA club competition group-stage fixtures on their travels.

Team facts
• Karel Jarolím is in his second spell as Slavia coach, having represented the club three times as a player. His two sons also started their playing careers there, with David Jarolím the current captain at Hamburger SV and Lukáš Jarolím now in Italy with AC Siena. The latter played in France with CS Sedan-Ardennes in 2003.

• Lille boss Rudi Garcia is also part of a footballing dynasty. His father José – who died earlier this year – was a player at US Dunkerque. The coach said: "It was him that gave me the football bug."

• Garcia represented Lille as a midfielder in the 1980s prior to spells with SM Caen and FC Martigues. His coaching career has seen him take charge of AS Saint-Etienne, Dijon FCO and Le Mans UC 72, returning to Lille in 2008.

• Jarolím has a long association with France, having played for FC Rouen (1987-90) and SC Amiens (1990-91). He returned there to be compatriot Ivan Hašek's assistant during his spell as coach of RC Strasbourg (2001-03). Hašek is now president of the Football Association of the Czech Republic.

• Slavia's Paris-born Tunisian midfielder Hocine Ragued also played in France, being loaned to FC Istres and FC Gueugnon during a spell at Paris Saint-Germain FC (2002-06). He joined the Czech champions from Belgian side RAEC Mons this summer.

• Ragued's Slavia team-mate and fellow Tunisian, midfielder Tijani Belaid, was also born in Paris but has never professionally represented a French club, having been whisked off from Paris FC to FC Internazionale Milano as a teenager.

• Lille's 3-1 Matchday 5 reverse at Valencia CF matched their heaviest margin of defeat away from home in UEFA club competition.

• Slavia committed more fouls in the first five matchdays than any other side – 95 in total.