High-flying Atlético have reward in sight

Group G leaders Club Atlético de Madrid are looking to make it four wins in a row when they host FK Austria Wien on matchday four.

• Atlético would confirm their qualification for the knockout rounds for the first time since 2008/09 with another victory and would also set a club record for consecutive wins in Europe's elite club competition. Prior to this season their best sequence was three straight victories, posted in their inaugural European Champion Clubs' Cup campaign in 1958/59 when they beat Dublin City FC home and away in the preliminary round and then overcame PFC CSKA Sofia 2-1 at home in the first round.

• Beaten 3-0 at home by Atlético on matchday three, Austria are still seeking their first goal and victory in the UEFA Champions League group stage.

Previous meetings
• Atlético prevailed on the one previous occasion the clubs met, in the 1970/71 European Cup first round. Luis Aragonés and José Gárate scored the goals in a 2-0 first-leg home win and although Eduard Krieger's penalty gave Austria an early lead in the Vienna return, Aragonés and Gárate both struck again to complete a 4-1 aggregate triumph.

Match background
• Atlético have won eight of nine European home games under Diego Simeone, including a 3-1 success against FC Zenit on matchday one.

• Nenad Bjelica's Austria visitors can take heart from three successive clean sheets on the road in this season's UEFA Champions League. Besides their goalless draw at Zenit on matchday two, Austria also drew 0-0 at FH Hafnarfjördur and won 2-0 at GNK Dinamo Zagreb in the qualifying rounds.

• Austria suffered 3-0 home and away losses to Athletic Club in the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League group stage. Tomáš Jun, Manuel Ortlechner and Markus Suttner – who was sent off in Bilbao – are the only survivors of that most recent trip to Spain in September 2009.

• It was in Bilbao that the Austrian side earned their only away win against Liga opposition when beating Athletic 2-1 in the 2004/05 UEFA Cup round of 32, Libor Sionko scoring both goals. They also eliminated Real Zaragoza in a run to the quarter-finals, drawing 2-2 at La Romareda to advance on away goals.

• Austria's overall record in Spain is W1 D2 L6.

• Atlético's only other home encounter with Austrian opponents came against SK Rapid Wien in the 1976/77 European Cup Winners' Cup first round when a 1-1 draw completed a 3-2 aggregate success.

Team ties
• During a six-year spell in Spanish football, Bjelica played for Albacete Balompié, Real Betis Balompié and UD Las Palmas. During that time he lined up against Atlético coach Simeone four times, winning once – a 3-2 victory with Betis in March 1997 – losing once, and drawing twice.

• Simeone scored in both of their head-to-head meetings in the 1995/96 Liga season, getting the first goal in Spanish double winners Atlético's 2-0 home success against Albacete and an 88th-minute equaliser in a 1-1 away draw.

• Bjelica's overall record against Atlético as a player reads W1 D2 L3. He had a trial with the Madrid club in 1993 but was not offered a contract.

• David Villa was in the Spain squad that won the UEFA EURO 2008 final at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion, Austria's home ground, though he was injured for that game. Villa scored twice at the stadium in Spain's 5-1 friendly win over Austria in November 2009.

• Suttner and Robin Okotie played in Austria's 2-0 friendly victory over Arda Turan's Turkey in Vienna in August 2012. The Atlético player had previously missed an added-time penalty away to an Austria side including Daniel Royer in a goalless UEFA EURO 2012 qualifier in September 2011.

• Okotie is the only survivor of the Austria Wien side that faced Arda's Galatasaray AŞ in Istanbul in a goalless group stage fixture of the 2007/08 UEFA Cup.

• Philipp Hosiner and Christian Ramsebner first came up against Toby Alderweireld in a 2-2 draw between Austria and Belgium in a UEFA European Under-17 Championship qualifier on 23 October 2005.