Background: Debutants Gent face returning Lyon
jueves, 10 de septiembre de 2015
Resumen del artículo
Belgian title holders KAA Gent will make their debut appearance in the UEFA Champions League when Group H rivals Olympique Lyonnais visit the Arteveldestadion.
Article top media content

Cuerpo del artículo
KAA Gent will make their debut appearance in the UEFA Champions League when Group H rivals Olympique Lyonnais visit an expectant Arteveldestadion on matchday one.
Match background
Gent
• Gent's participation in the UEFA Champions League is their reward for winning the first Belgian title in their 115-year history in May.
• Their only previous taste of the UEFA Champions League was a 6-1 aggregate defeat by Dynamo Kyiv in the 2010/11 third qualifying round (0-3 a, 1-3 h).
• Gent were knocked out by Ligue 1 opponents on their solitary previous appearance in a UEFA competition group stage. In the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League, they were poised for qualification for the last 32 only to lose 3-0 at LOSC Lille on matchday six. The teams had drawn 1-1 in Belgium.
• Overall Gent have faced French teams six times, losing all three games across the border while drawing all three at home – starting with a 1-1 draw with Lens in the UEFA Cup first round on 14 September 1983.
• Gent may be new to the competition but their former home ground, the Jules Ottenstadion, hosted three UEFA Champions League fixtures in 1997/98 when Lierse played their group stage games at the venue. Lierse picked up just one point, from a 1-1 draw with Sporting Club de Portugal, while losing to AS Monaco FC (0-1) and Bayer 04 Leverkusen (0-2).
• Gent are the sixth Belgian team to appear in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League after RSC Anderlecht, Club Brugge KV, KRC Genk, K. Lierse SK and R Standard de Liège.
Lyon
• Second in Ligue 1 last season, Lyon are back in the UEFA Champions League group stage for the first time since 2011/12 when they reached the round of 16.
• Lyon had 12 consecutive seasons in the UEFA Champions League group stage between 2000 and 2012, and were semi-finalists in 2010.
• Last season they failed to reach the group stage of the UEFA Europa League after losing a play-off tie against Romania's FC Astra Giurgiu on away goals (1-2 h, 1-0 a).
• Lyon's most recent visit to Belgium brought a 3-1 success at Anderlecht in the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League play-offs. Lisandro López hit a hat-trick as a Lyon side featuring substitute Maxime Gonalons completed an 8-2 aggregate triumph. Their overall record in Belgium is W2 D0 L3.
Coach and player links
• As a player, visiting coach Hubert Fournier was in the first Lyon side to win in Belgium – 4-3 at Club Brugge in the 1998/99 UEFA Cup third round. Steed Malbranque also played as the Ligue 1 side secured a 5-3 aggregate success.
• Hein Vanhaezebrouck's short stint as coach of KRC Genk in 2009 included home (1-2) and away (2-4) defeats by LOSC Lille in the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League play-off round. Prior to this season, these have been his only two matches as a coach in UEFA club competition.
• Nabil Fekir struck his first goal for France's senior team in their 4-3 home defeat against Belgium in June. Mathieu Valbuena scored too, with a penalty, for Les Bleus.
• Players who have played together:
Milan Biševac and Stefan Mitrović (Serbia)
Match facts
Gent
• Gent followed up their maiden Eerste Klasse title by winning the Belgian Super Cup for the first time on 16 July, beating Club Brugge 1-0 thanks to a strike from Laurent Depoitre.
• Vanhaezebrouck's men are undefeated in eight games in 2015/16 and have only lost one of their last 16 in all competitions.
• Depoitre has scored four of Gent's seven league goals this season.
• Erik Johansson suffered a knee ligament injury while training with Sweden in early September and is expected to be out for four to six weeks.
• Uroš Vitas has not played this term because of ankle and hamstring injuries respectively.
Lyon
• Lyon have won both of their away matches this season – 1-0 at EA Guingamp and 4-0 against SM Caen.
• Fekir, a scorer of four goals in as many Ligue 1 appearances in 2015/16, suffered ligament and meniscus damage to his right knee on his first start for France, a 1-0 victory in Portugal on 4 September.
• Valbuena's free-kick earned Les Bleus the win in Lisbon. Three days later the midfielder made his 50th appearance for France as the UEFA EURO 2016 hosts overcame Serbia 2-1 in a Bordeaux friendly.
• Alexandre Lacazette missed France's September fixtures due to a back injury but played all 90 minutes of the 0-0 draw with LOSC on Saturday.
• Clément Grenier, out since sustaining a leg muscle injury in a 25 July friendly against Arsenal FC, resumed light training on 3 September.