Sparta out to avenge Skibbe defeats

AC Sparta Praha coach Michal Bílek can avenge an old defeat as his side face Michael Skibbe's Bayer 04 Leverkusen in UEFA Cup Group E.

• Leverkusen coach Skibbe came up against Czech opposition in his first UEFA club competition games, leading BV Borussia Dortmund to back-to-back 1-0 wins against FK Teplice in the third qualifying round of the 1999/00 UEFA Champions League.

• Sparta coach Bílek, then nearing the end of his career as a defender and midfielder, was on the losing side in both legs of that game.

• Skibbe never had a significant playing career, being forced to retire in his early 20s after tearing cruciate ligaments three times during a spell at FC Schalke 04. He played just 14 Bundesliga games for the club between 1984 and 1986.

• He moved into coaching at the age of just 22, with the youth teams at Schalke and then Dortmund. Appointed as Dortmund's head coach in 1998 at 32, he became the youngest coach of all time in the Bundesliga.

• Bílek, by contrast, had an excellent playing career, representing Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic at international level, and playing with the former at the 1990 FIFA World Cup finals. He spent much of his club career with Sparta, playing abroad with Real Betis Balompié between 1990 and 1992.

• Leverkusen beat Toulouse FC 1-0 at home in their opening game but lost 2-1 at FC Spartak Moskva in their second. A win against Sparta would put them in the last 32 of the competition regardless of the outcome of their final game at FC Zürich.

• Sparta are third in the section with four points, but need a win in their final Group E outing at the BayArena to be certain of progress.

• Leverkusen's young Czech striker Michal Papadopulos may play against two former team-mates, having played with Sparta pair Zdenĕk Pospĕch and Miroslav Matušovič at FC Baník Ostrava.

• The two sides have never met in UEFA club competition.

• Leverkusen have played six games against Czech opposition in the past, winning three, drawing two and losing one. At home, they have drawn once and won their last two games against Czech oppositions 2-0 and 5-0.

• Sparta have played ten games against German sides over the years, winning four, drawing two and losing four. In Germany itself, they have won once, drawn twice and lost twice.