Lyon wary of more Portuguese punishment from Benfica

Olympique Lyonnais are on top of Group B after two successive wins but if there is a reason for caution ahead of the visit of SL Benfica, it lies in their record against opponents from Portugal.

Olympique Lyonnais lead the way in Group B after two wins and they will be hoping to increase their three-point advantage over SL Benfica when the sides meet at Stade de Gerland. Their record against opponents from Portugal, however, has room for improvement.

• Lyon got their Group B campaign off to a winning start courtesy of Michel Bastos's first-half strike against ten-man FC Schalke 04. They then travelled to Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC where Bastos scored twice more in a 3-1 win, Miralem Pjanić getting the third.

• Benfica began with a 2-0 defeat of Hapoel courtesy of goals from Luisão and Óscar Cardozo but lost by the same scoreline at Schalke on Matchday 2.

Match background
• The sides have not met in a competitive fixture before though Lyon have crossed swords with FC Porto, SC Farense and Sporting Clube de Portugal. They have come out on top only twice in nine fixtures, winning home and away against Farense in the 1995/96 UEFA Cup first round. Their other four home games ended in two defeats and two draws.

• Benfica were 2-1 winners at Olympique de Marseille on their previous visit to France in last season's UEFA Cup round of 16. After the home leg ended 1-1, it gave them a 3-2 aggregate win; Maxi Pereira scored in both games and Alan Kardec notched the decisive goal in the away match. In 18 games against French opposition Benfica's record is W8 D5 L5; of nine away matches they have won four and lost four.

• Lyon are competing in the group stage for the 11th season running and have reached the knockout rounds in each of the last seven campaigns.

• In last term's UEFA Champions League, Les Gones recorded five wins and a draw – including the play-off round – at home before FC Bayern München got the better of them at Stade de Gerland in the semi-final second leg.

• In their last participation, in 2007/08, Portuguese champions Benfica lost at AC Milan and Celtic FC. On Matchday 6 they won 2-1 at FC Shakhtar Donetsk but still finished third in their group.

Team ties
• Pablo Aimar was in the Valencia CF team that beat Marseille 2-0 in the 2003/04 UEFA Cup final in Gothenburg.

• Lisandro scored three times against Benfica during his four years with Porto between 2005 and 2009.

• Maxi Pereira was in the Uruguay team that earned a 0-0 draw against France in the 2010 FIFA World Cup group stage. Jérémy Toulalan, Yoann Gourcuff and Hugo Lloris were all on the opposing side with Anthony Réveillère an unused substitute.

• It was also 0-0 between Brazil and Portugal at the World Cup. Michel Bastos was on duty for the South American team, as was Luisão, while Fábio Coentrão played for Portugal and Ruben Amorim was on the bench.

• Nuno Gomes scored for Portugal against France in the UEFA EURO 2000 semi-final in Brussels. France came out on top however thanks to Zinédine Zidane's extra-time penalty.