Bayern and Aris on the threshold

Defeat could spell disaster for both sides as FC Bayern München and FC Aris Thessaloniki look to secure their passage to the UEFA Cup Round of 32 in their final Group F game.

• Both sides have picked up five points in their first three Group F games and both will qualify in the event of a draw or indeed an SC Braga defeat in the evening's other Group F game between the Portuguese side and FK Crvena Zvezda.

• Bayern have played six games against Greek sides over the years and have yet to lose, winning four and drawing two. In Munich itself, they have won twice and drawn once but have not met a Greek team since the opening of their new stadium, the Fußball Arena München.

• Aris have never played a German side before.

• Aris coach Dusan Bajević has been involved in six games against German sides – two as a player and four as a coach – but he has to look back to September 1989 for his only victory to date, as his AEK Athens FC side beat 1. FC Dynamo Dresden – from the former East Germany – 5-3 in Athens. His other three games against German sides as a coach have all ended in defeats.

• Bajević's final games in European club competition as a player were against another East German side, 1. FC Locomotive Leipzig. His side, FK Velež – then representing the former Yugoslavia but now in the Bosnia-Herzegovnian league – drew 1-1 in both legs of their UEFA Cup Winners' Cup first round tie in 1981/82, with Bajević scoring in the home tie, before losing out on penalties in Mostar.

• This will be his opposite number Ottmar Hitzfeld's first experience of Greek opposition.

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

• Bayern have not lost a UEFA Cup home game in over a decade, since going down 1-0 at home against FC Lokomotiv Moskva in the first round of the 1995/96 competition. They went on to defeat the Russian side 5-0 in the return leg en route to winning the trophy, beating FC Girondins de Bordeaux 5-1 on aggregate in the two-legged final.

• Aris have not won in their last six European away games since beating Servette FC 2-1 in the first round of the 1999/00 UEFA Cup.

• Bayern's Argentinian defender Martin Demichelis celebrates his 27th birthday on 20 December, the day after the game.

• Aris's Brazilian star Ronaldo Guiaro turns 33 on 18 December, the day before the game.

• Another booking would see Luca Toni suspended for his next UEFA club competition game, while Aris's Avraam Papadopoulos and Aurelio are in a similar position.

• Braga are at home against Crvena Zvezda in Wednesday's other Group F game.

• The draw for the Round of 32 and Round of 16 will be held in Nyon on 21 December from 13.00 CET.