LFC v Gomel: 32 pre-match stats

Liverpool's European Record (overall): Pld 329, won 186, drawn 72, lost 71.

Liverpool's record in Fairs/UEFA Cup/Europa League: Pld 118, won 65, drawn 29, lost 24.

Liverpool lead 1-0 from the first leg thanks to Stewart Downing's 67th-minute strike.

This is Liverpool's 39th season of European football and their 16th campaign in this competition in its three guises.

The Reds are looking to become the first team ever to lift the trophy four times. Barcelona, Inter Milan, Juventus and Valencia have also won it on three occasions.

Liverpool were the last English winners of the competition - beating Alaves in 2001. The 5-4 victory is the only European final to be decided by sudden-death golden goal.

FC Gomel are the Reds' 114th different European opponent, while they are meeting a side from Belarus for the first time.

This is the club's third-earliest start to a European campaign. Only 2005-06 (July 13) and 2010-11 (July 29) saw them begin a quest for European glory earlier.

The Reds' last foray into Europe two seasons ago saw them lose 1-0 on aggregate to Sporting Braga in the last 16.

In the first leg Jamie Carragher became only the second Liverpool player (after Ian Callaghan, 857 apps) to play 700 times for the club.

Carra last week also became the fifth-oldest player (after Gary McAllister, Ian Callaghan, Bruce Grobbelaar and Sami Hyypia) to appear in a European fixture for the Reds, aged 34 years 187 days.

No team has scored more than one goal in a European game against Liverpool in the last 18 matches since Benfica scored twice in April 2010.

The Reds have conceded just five goals in their last 15 European games home and away.

In that time they have lost just once - the 1-0 defeat in Braga.

Liverpool are unbeaten in their last 11 home games in Europe since losing to Fiorentina in the Champions League in 2009.

In this competition they have not been defeated at Anfield since Celtic won 2-0 in March 2003 - a run of 15 games unbeaten.

The Reds have never in their illustrious history been eliminated from Europe after winning the first leg away from home. They have returned to Anfield with a first-leg advantage on 31 previous occasions.

Steven Gerrard is the last Liverpool player to score a European hat-trick, doing so as a substitute against Napoli in November 2010.

He is two goals away from equalling Michael Owen's club record of 12 goals in the competition.

The Reds captain with 38 holds the record of most goals in Europe by a British player for an English club - seven more than Wayne Rooney, while he is only four goals behind Thierry Henry's record of 42 goals for a single English club.

Glen Johnson played his 100th game for Liverpool in Gomel last week, while Jordan Henderson could make his 50th Reds appearance in this second leg.

Brendan Rodgers became the 10th permanent Liverpool manager to take charge of the club in Europe. He is the club's second youngest manager in Europe after Graeme Souness - Rodgers is 39, a year older then Souness was.

Last week Raheem Sterling became Liverpool's second youngest player in Europe aged 17 years 238 days (23 days older than Phil Charnock who made his debut in September 1992).

Only 11 players have been sent-off in Liverpool's 329-game European history with the last being Ryan Babel at Benfica in April 2010.

Gomel beat Vikingur of the Faroe Islands 10-0 on aggregate in the first qualifying round winning 6-0 away and 4-0 at home. All the goals in the tie were scored in the second half.

They defeated Renova of Macedonia 2-1 on aggregate to book a tie against the Reds.

Gomel finished third in the league last season.

They have won the league title once (in 2003) and have twice lifted the Cup (in 2002 and 2011).

They were in this competition last season, losing in the third qualifying round to Bursaspor - beaten 5-2 on aggregate.

This is their fifth season in the UEFA Cup/Europa League and they have reached the first round proper once (in 2002-03, losing 8-1 to Schalke 04).

They played in the qualifying round of the Champions League in 2004-05, losing to KF Tirana 2-1 on aggregate after winning the first leg away from home.

Gomel have won six of their seven domestic away games this season, conceding only three goals.

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