Wanderers v Marseille, UEFA Cup Round of 32, first leg, February 15, Reebok Stadium (7.45pm)

Still unbeaten in this year's UEFA Cup, Wandererswill hope to make full use of home advantage when they welcome Olympique de Marseille to the Reebok stadium for the first leg of their UEFA Cup Round of 32 tie.

But Sam Allardyce's side, making their debut in UEFA competition, concede a wealth of European experience to the French team, who won three of their four group fixtures.

Bolton reached the knockout stages after edging through a congested Group H courtesy of a Matchday 5 draw against section winners Sevilla FC. Until then, their hopes hung in the balance following 1-1 draws against Beikta JK and Vitria SC and a narrow 1-0 victory at home to FC Zenit St. Petersburg. It left them needing a point against Sevilla on the last day to secure third place, and Bruno N'Gotty's second-half strike helped them to yet another 1-1 draw.

Marseille had no such concerns in Group F, booking their passage to the knockout stages after just two games after successive wins against holders PFC CSKA Moskva and SC Heerenveen. Disappointment followed as a weakened side slipped to a 1-0 defeat by PFC Levski Sofia, but Jean Fernandez's team completed the group stage on a high, securing first place in the section with a 2-1 victory against FC Dinamo Bucuresti thanks to first-half goals from Bostjan Cesar and Jos Delfim.

This being Bolton's first European campaign, the teams have never before met in UEFA competition. The Premiership outfit have never met a French side either, but 1993 UEFA Champions League winners Marseille are old hands at this level, and have faced English opposition ten times. Four of those games have ended in victory but ominously for Fernandez's team, they have not won in England in five attempts.

Marseille's first encounter came in the first round of the 1976/77 UEFA Cup Winners' cup when they were swept aside 4-0 by Southampton FC. The Ligue 1 outfit edged the return leg in France although they could not overturn the deficit. The pattern of losing away and winning at home continued in the UEFA Champions League in 1999/00 when they achieved those results against Manchester United FC and Chelsea FC in the first and second group stages respectively.

But Marseille will have fond memories of their most recent games against English opposition, as they swept past Liverpool FC and Newcastle United FC en route to the 2003/04 UEFA Cup final. Now at Chelsea, Didier Drogba scored in a 1-1 draw against Liverpool in the fourth round first leg at Anfield. The Ivorian was on target again at home, cancelling out Emile Heskey's strike before defender Abdoulaye Mt secured a 2-1 win.

After overcoming FC Internazionale Milano in the last eight, Marseille were paired with Newcastle in the semi-finals. They held out for a goalless draw at St. James' Park before two goals from Didier Drogba in the return leg saw them seal a place in the final, where they lost to Valencia CF.

Reprinted courtesy of www.uefa.com