SEVILLA LOOK FOR WINNING START IN CLASH WITH 100TH EUROPEAN OPPONENT

Preview

Sevilla FC face off against RC Lens in the first matchday in group B of the UEFA Champions League, with kick off at 21:00 at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán. 

Team news

José Luis Mendilibar has named all available players in his matchday squad with only Nianzou and Acuña missing out through injury. Marcao also remains unavailable and the Brazilian, like Adnan Januzaj, hasn't been registered in the club's Champions League squad. Juanlu and Kike Salas qualify for the 23-man squad as home-grown players. 

Opposition

In the build up to this game, Franck Heise has underlined his side's lesser experience in the competition when compared with Sevilla, the French team qualifying for the tournament after a sensational runner-up finish in Ligue 1 last season. However, RC Lens have endured a difficult start to the season, currently sitting bottom of the league with a solitary point from five games. 

Stats

RC Lens are taking part in Europe's top club competition for the third time. In 1998/99, under a different format, the visitors finished second in their group and didn't make the quarter finals while in 2002/03 they came third in the group stage, subsequently dropping into the UEFA Cup. In that year's competition, they were beaten 3-1 by RC Deportivo in Riazor. 

Officials

German referee Tobias Stieler will take charge of tonight's clash. Despite officiating internationally since 2014/15, Stieler will oversee a fixture including either of the two sides for the first time in the group opener.