AZ aim to shrink the Greek gap

AZ Alkmaar are four points behind Olympiacos FC with just two games remaining but a first UEFA Champions League victory of the season will put Ronald Koeman's side right back in contention for the qualifying places in Group H.

• On Matchday 4 the home side went down 4-1 at Arsenal FC to remain at the foot of the table with two points. Jeremain Lens scored for AZ but only after the London team had scored four goals.

• The same night Olympiacos succumbed 2-0 in Belgium against R. Standard de Liège, conceding in each half. It meant the Greek champions stayed on six points, two ahead of Standard and in the second qualifying berth.

Previous meetings
• The Matchday 1 fixture between the sides came just a day after Olympiacos had parted company with Temuri Ketsbaia and with new coach Zico looking on from the stands. It remained deadlocked until the 79th minute when Vassilis Torosidis headed in Jaouad Zairi's cross to give the home team the win.

Match background
• That 16 September meeting was the first time AZ had failed to beat Greek opponents in an official fixture. Their previous three games had included two at home, beating PAOK FC 2-1 in the 2004/05 UEFA Cup first round and Larissa FC 1-0 in the group stage of the same competition three years later.

• Olympiacos have failed to register a victory in their four previous away games against teams from the Netherlands and are yet to score a goal. They avoided defeat only in their first visit, a 0-0 draw against AFC Ajax in the 1983/84 European Champion Clubs' Cup first round.

• Their 1-1 draw with Arsenal on 20 October means AZ have lost just once in 35 home games in UEFA club competition, starting a long sequence of unbeaten matches on their home debut in Europe in September 1977. The run carried on through 32 games and 30 years until 20 December 2007 when Everton won 3-2 in the UEFA Cup group stage at the AZ Stadion, which had replaced the Alkmaarderhout in 2006.

Team ties
• Olympiacos defender Olof Mellberg and AZ's Pontus Wernbloom are team-mates in the Swedish national side.

• Mounir El Hamdaoui of AZ and Olympiacos' Jaouad Zairi are international team-mates with Morocco.

• AZ's first league title, in 1981, came with Georg Kessler as head coach. He took charge of Olympiacos in 1984/85.

• When Brazil beat the Netherlands on penalties in the 1998 FIFA World Cup semi-final in Marseille, AZ coach Ronald Koeman was assistant to Guus Hiddink for the Oranje, while Zico was Mário Zagallo's right-hand man for Brazil.

• Zico was the Fenerbahçe SK coach when they lost on away goals to AZ in the 2006/07 UEFA Cup round of 32 after the aggregate scores were tied at 5-5.

• The following season Zico's Fenerbahçe played out a 0-0 away draw against Koeman's PSV Eindhoven in the UEFA Champions League group stage.

• As an Ajax player Koeman was knocked out by Olympiacos in the aforementioned 1983/84 European Champion Clubs' Cup first round tie.

• Koeman's assistant, Shota Arveladze, played for Ajax against Olympiacos in the 1998/99 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Giorgos Galitsios played for Larissa against AZ in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup group stage.

• Maarten Martens and Michał Żewłakow were team-mates at RSC Anderlecht in the 2003/04.