Benfica look forward to Spanish exam

SL Benfica will look to secure another famous victory against Spanish opponents as they kick off their UEFA Cup Round of 16 tie against Getafe CF in Madrid.

• Still in their first season in European competition, Getafe have never previously faced Portuguese opposition.

• Their coach Michael Laudrup has played against Benfica before during his time as an FC Barcelona player. The teams met in the group stage of the 1991/92 European Champion Clubs' Cup – the final edition before the advent of the UEFA Champions League.

• The Danish star started in both fixtures as Barça drew 0-0 in Lisbon and won 2-1 at Camp Nou. They went on to win the competition, beating UC Sampdoria 1-0 in the final at Wembley, with Ronald Koeman scoring the only goal.

• Now 43, Laudrup was one of the most celebrated players in Danish history and was part of the Denmark side which stunned Europe by winning the 1992 UEFA European Championship.

• He started his career at Kjøbenhavns Boldklub, then played for Brøndby IF before heading abroad to play for Juventus, Barça and Real Madrid CF. He won a league title with Juventus in Italy, four in Spain with Barcelona and one more with Madrid and later won a Dutch Cup in a spell at AFC Ajax.

• He moved into coaching with Brøndby, winning the Danish Cup in 2002/03 and a league and cup double in 2004/05 before leaving in 2006. He replaced Bernd Schuster at Getafe last summer after the German was hired to coach Madrid.

• Benfica, meanwhile, have played 18 games against teams from over the border in Spain, winning five, drawing six and losing seven.

• Notable victories against Spanish opposition include two successive European Champion Clubs' Cup final successes in 1960 and 1961.

• Béla Güttman's Benfica beat Barcelona 3-2 in the 1960 final at the Wankdorf Stadium in Berne, Switzerland. Férenc Puskás scored a hat-trick for Real Madrid CF in the final the following season, but two goals from Eusébio helped Benfica register a 5-3 win at the Olympisch Stadium in Amsterdam.

• In Spain itself, they have won just once – beating Real Betis Balompié 2-1 in the first round of the 1982/83 UEFA Cup – drawing another game and losing six.

• Since that win in Seville, the tide has turned for Benfica, and they have now not won in their last ten games against Spanish opposition, a run which includes a 7-0 loss to RC Celta de Vigo in the third round of the 1999/00 UEFA Cup.

• That latter defeat remains Benfica's heaviest in UEFA club competition.

• Benfica coach José Antonio Camacho knows all about Spanish football. The former left-back represented Madrid throughout his playing career, from 1973 to 1989. He moved into coaching and was in charge of Rayo Vallecano, RCD Espanyol and Sevilla FC before coaching Spain between 1988 and 2002.

• A first spell at Benfica between 2002 and 2004 saw Camacho lead the Lisbon side to the 2003/04 Portuguese Cup. He was then hired as Madrid coach but lasted less than a season. He returned to Benfica in 2007.

• Benfica attacking midfielder Rui Costa and Getafe's left-back Cosmin Contra played together in the Romanian international's only season at AC Milan in 2001/02. The pair were involved as the Serie A side reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup that season, bowing out against losing finalists BV Borussia Dortmund.

• Congolese-born Benfica forward Ariza Makukula may be up against more than one former team-mate. He was a colleague of Getafe midfielder Francisco Sousa during a season-long loan at Real Valladolid in 2003/04 while he played alongside midfielder Francisco Casquero and forward Kepa Blanco during his time at Sevilla FC.

• Kepa Blanco and Makukula were both in the Sevilla squad that won the 2005/06 UEFA Cup, but neither were on the field as Juande Ramos' men beat Middlesbrough FC 4-0 in the final in Eindhoven.

• Getafe's Albín, Braulio and Pablo Hernández are within a booking of a one-match ban along with Benfica's Óscar Cardozo, Maxi Pereira and Luís Filipe. Petit is serving a one-match suspension while Augustin Binya still has two games of a four-match ban to go.

• Getafe finished top of Group G to qualify for the Round of 32 where they beat AEK Athens FC 4-1 on aggregate. Benfica beat 1. FC Nürnberg 3-2 on aggregate in the first knockout round having parachuted into the competition after finishing third in their UEFA Champions League group.

•Benfica reached the Round of 16 in last season's competition, beating Paris Saint-Germain FC 4-3 on aggregate before losing out in the quarter-finals to Getafe's Primera División rivals – and eventual losing finalists – RCD Espanyol.

• The second leg will be played in Lisbon on 12 March. The draw for the quarter-finals and semi-finals of the UEFA Cup will be held at UEFA HQ in Nyon on Friday 14 March at 12.00CET.