Rennes hope to prolong Celtic malaise

Stade Rennais FC will hope that Celtic FC's long wait for a win in France will continue as the sides meet in UEFA Europa League Group I. Previous meetings • The teams are meeting for the first time in UEFA competition. • In Rennes' only previous tie against Scottish opponents, they took on Celtic's Old Firm rivals Rangers FC in the 1971/72 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup first round; they lost 1-0 in Glasgow after a 1-1 draw in France. Rangers went on to win the competition, beating FC Dinamo Moskva 3-2 in the final at Camp Nou. • Celtic's 12 games against French sides have ended W4 D1 L7 (W1 D1 L4 in France). They have not won in five games in France since beating FC Nantes 3-1 on 30 November 1966 in a European Champion Clubs' Cup second round game. Match background • Rennes are unbeaten in eight European home games since a 2-1 loss to FC Lokomotiv Sofia in the UEFA Cup first round on 4 October 2007. They have conceded just twice in their last six UEFA home fixtures (against Club Atlético de Madrid and FC Twente). • Celtic reached the group stage despite a play-off defeat by FC Sion; the Swiss club were excluded from the competition for fielding ineligible players. • Prior to their play-off tie at Sion, awarded as a 3-0 default win, Celtic had not won in six European away games (two draws and four defeats) since beating FC Dinamo Moskva 2-0 in the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round. Team facts • Two former Rennes players have connections with Celtic: Stéphane Mahé (1997-2001) and Jean-Joël Perrier-Doumbé (2007-09), who scored the only goal in the 2007 Scottish Cup final, when Celtic beat Dunfermline Athletic FC 1-0. • Once a player for SC Bastia in his native Corsica, Rennes coach Frédéric Antonetti took charge of Bastia, AS Saint-Étienne and OGC Nice before being handed his current job in 2009. He has not featured in Europe since leading Bastia from the UEFA Intertoto Cup to the second round of the UEFA Cup in 1997/98. • Celtic boss Neil Lennon was capped 40 times as a midfielder by Northern Ireland. Initially a trainee at Manchester City FC, he made his name with Leicester City FC before moving to Celtic alongside his manager and countryman Martin O'Neill. He went on to win five league titles, three Scottish Cups and two league cups during his time as a player in Glasgow (2000-07).