Spurs look to buck their French hoodoo

Tottenham Hotspur must overcome their weekend Premier League defeat away at Crystal Palace if they are to end their winless streak away in France against Stade Rennes in the new UEFA Conference League tonight. More details at www.soccer6.co.za

M1 Bayer Leverkusen vs Ferencváros: Seeded directly into the Europa League group stage, Bayer Leverkusen begin their campaign with a first official fixture against Hungarian title holders Ferencváros, who have already played eight matches in this season’s UEFA Champions League qualifying phase.

M2 Dinamo Zagreb vs West Ham United: The Hammers’ only previous experience of Croatia opposition was a 6-1 aggregate victory over Osijek in the 1999/2000 UEFA Cup first round.

M3 Galatasaray vs Lazio: The clubs first met in the opening group stage of the 2001/02 Champions League, when they traded 1-0 home wins, but Galatasaray, with ten points, progressed to the second group stage.

M4 HJK Helsinki vs LASK Linz: Autumn European football returns to Finland for the first time in seven years as HJK Helsinki make their UEFA Europa Conference League bow with a Group A encounter at home to a LASK side appearing in a European group stage for the third year in a row.

M5 Lokomotiv Moscow vs Olympique Marseille: After three successive seasons in the Champions League, in each of which they finished fourth in their group, Lokomotiv are back in the Europa League. Marseille have been victorious in seven of their 13 games against Russian clubs.

M6 Midtjylland vs Ludogorets Razgrad: The clubs met for the only previous time in last season’s UEFA Champions League second qualifying round, Midtjylland winning 1-0 in Razgrad with a late goal from Brazilian striker Júnior Brumado. The Danish club would go on to reach the competition’s group stage for the first time.

M7 Rapid Vienna vs Racing Genk: Runners-up in their respective domestic leagues last season, Rapid and Genk meet in Europa League Group H, the Austrian side embarking on their record-equalling ninth campaign in the competition’s group stage, where their Belgian opponents have a flawless record.

M8 Real Betis vs Glasgow Celtic: Betis ended the last LaLiga campaign under new coach Manuel Pellegrini in sixth place to end a two-season absence from Europe. Celtic have won seven of their 32 UEFA matches against Spanish opposition, but none in Spain, where their record is D3 L13.

M9 Red Star Belgrade vs Sporting Braga: This is the clubs’ fourth meeting in UEFA competition. Red Star have yet to beat Braga in any of the previous three encounters.

M10 Stade Rennes vs Tottenham Hotspur: Tottenham are the third team from London to visit Rennes in four seasons, after they bear Arsenal but lost to Chelsea. Spurs have never won in five previous trips to France.

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