Lazio
Domestic honours: 2x Italian champions (most recently 2000), 6x Coppa Italia winners (most recently 2013), 4x Italian Supercup winners
European honours: 1x UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup winners (1999), 1x UEFA Super Cup winners (1999)
League position last season: Fifth
Star players: Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Ciro Immobile (formerly of Borussia Dortmund)
Coach: Simone Inzaghi (since June 2016)
Stadium: Stadio Olimpico (73,261 capacity)
Lazio’s greatest era came around the turn of the millennium, when they played in two European finals (1998 and 1999) and lifted the Coppa Italia twice (1998 and 2000). Last season was their best in Europe for ten years as they reached the quarter-finals of the Europa League, where they were narrowly beaten by RB Salzburg. The Biancocelesti qualified directly for this season’s competition after finishing fifth in Serie A and scoring the most goals in 2017/18. However, they’ve started the current campaign poorly with two defeats in their opening two matches. The Rome-based outfit are coached by Simone Inzaghi, who spent a decade at the club as a player and was previously youth coach. Eintracht have never met Lazio competitively.
Olympique Marseille
Domestic honours: 9x French champions (most recently 2010), 10x Coup de France winners (most recently 1989), 2x Supercup winners
European honours: 1x Champions League winners (1993)
League position last season: Fourth
Star player: Dimitri Payet
Coach: Rudi Garcia (since June 2016)
Stadium: Stade Vélodrome (67,394 capacity)
Marseille reached the final of the UEFA Europa League last season, losing 3-0 to Atletico Madrid. They also finished fourth in Ligue 1 and recorded their best points tally for eight years (77). Their squad contains three of France’s 2018 World Cup winners: goalkeeper Steve Mandanda, centre-back Adil Rami and winger Florian Thauvin. They’re the only French club to have ever won the Champions League.
Apollon Limassol
Domestic honours: 3x Cypriot champions (most recently 2006), 9x Cypriot Cup winners (most recently 2017)
League position last season: Second
Coach: Sofronis Avgousti (since December 2016)
Stadium: Tsirion Stadion (13,331 capacity)
It’s been a long road for Apollon Limassol to reach the group stage of the UEFA Europa League. Last season’s Cypriot runners-up have had to come through four qualifying rounds to get here, beating Swiss giants Basel on away goals in the last round. The domestic season in Cyprus only gets under way this weekend. Apollon’s coach is former goalkeeper Sofronis Avgousti, who played for his hometown club over three separate spells. Their greatest European successes are reaching the last 16 of the European Cup in the 1991/92 season, when they were knocked out by Red Star Belgrade, and getting to the same stage of the Cup Winners’ Cup during the 1998/99 campaign before eventually losing to Panionios.
