Lazio look to grasp Sporting chance

S.S. Lazio's fate is not in their own hands as they take on Group D winners Sporting Clube de Portugal, looking to join their visitors in the round of 32.

• Lazio are level on points with FC Vaslui, but the Romanian side boast a better head-to-head record, and will go through provided they at least match Lazio's result in their game at FC Zürich.

Previous meetings
• Sporting beat Lazio 2-1 in Lisbon on matchday two despite playing with ten men for 40 minutes following Emiliano Insúa's dismissal. Ricky van Wolfswinkel (21) put Sporting in front, and though Miroslav Klose equalised five minutes before the interval, Argentinian left-back Insúa restored his side's advantage in first-half added time.

• Lazio's 11 games against Portuguese sides have ended W6 D1 L4 (W4 D1 L0 in Rome, where they have conceded just once to Liga opponents).

• Sporting's 26 games against Italian sides in Europe ended W5 D10 L11 (W0 D3 L9 in Italy).

• Sporting took on Lazio's local rivals AS Roma in the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League group stage, losing 2-1 in Rome and drawing 2-2 at home.

Match background
• Lazio are unbeaten in three home games this season (two wins and a draw). However, they ended their previous European campaign, in 2009/10, with a 1-0 UEFA Europa League group stage home defeat against PFC Levski Sofia, which ensured their elimination.

• Sporting have won only one of their last six European away fixtures, with their 2-0 matchday one victory at Zürich breaking up a run comprising two draws and three defeats.

Team facts
• Sporting forward Valeri Bozhinov played alongside Lazio's Cristian Ledesma at US Lecce (2002-05). The Bulgarian forward also played for ACF Fiorentina, Juventus and Parma FC.

• In his penultimate season in Italy, Bozhinov scored at the Stadio Olimpico to give Parma a 2-1 win against Lazio. In total, he has played nine games against Lazio, scoring three times.

• Sporting's Oguchi Onyewu was signed by AC Milan in 2009, but a serious knee injury meant he never played a league game for the club.

• Sporting's Anderson Polga was an unused substitute in the 2002 FIFA World Cup final when his Brazil side beat a Germany team featuring Lazio's Klose 2-0 in Yokohama, Japan.

• Klose scored a goal in each leg as his FC Bayern München side beat Sporting 12-1 on aggregate in the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League round of 16.

• Klose also struck in Germany's 3-2 win against Portugal in the quarter-finals of UEFA EURO 2008.

• Once a midfield colleague of Fabio Capello's at SPAL 1907, Lazio boss Edoardo Reja has been coaching since 1979, but did not make his Serie A debut until 1998, and had to wait another decade to make his European bow with SSC Napoli.

• Reja's Napoli took on Sporting's Lisbon rivals SL Benfica in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup first round, winning 3-2 at home but losing 2-0 in the Portuguese capital.

• Sporting coach Domingos Paciência made his name in Europe last season by leading SC Braga to the UEFA Europa League final, where they lost 1-0 to FC Porto in Dublin.