Stuttgart and Partizan aim to get off the mark

VfB Stuttgart will aim to earn a first win in UEFA Cup Group C as they play host to Serbian champions FK Partizan, who are looking to end a dismal run of results against German sides.

• This is Stuttgart and Partizan's first meeting in UEFA club competition.

• This is the first time that Stuttgart have taken on a Serbian side, while Partizan have played 12 games against German teams in UEFA club competition, winning four and losing eight.

• Their record on German soil is an unenviable one. They have lost all six of their games in Germany by an aggregate score of 14-2.

• Partizan have lost their last four games against Bundesliga sides home and away, and previously registered a win against German opposition in 1983, beating Berliner FC Dynamo 1-0.

• Stuttgart's Khalid Boulahrouz may see a familiar face in the Partizan lineup. The Dutch defender played alongside Partizan's Almani Moreira while the Portuguese midfielder was on loan at Hamburger SV in the 2004/05 season. Hamburg finished eighth in the Bundesliga that campaign.

• Stuttgart forward Danijel Ljuboja could make his first appearance against a club from his native Serbia, having once been a youth player with Partizan's Belgrade rivals FK Crvena Zvezda.

• The 30-year-old has never played for a senior club in his homeland, having moved to France in 1998 to represent his first professional side, FC Sochaux-Montbéliard prior to spells with RC Strasbourg, Paris Saint-Germain FC, Stuttgart, Hamburg and VfL Wolfsburg.

• Stuttgart coach Armin Veh has played against Serbian opposition once before during his days as a midfielder with Swiss side FC St. Gallen, as his team lost 2-1 at home against FK Radnicki Niš in the second leg of a 1983/84 UEFA Cup first-round game.

• Partizan coach Slaviša Jokanović came up against German opposition in the shape of FC Schalke 04 when playing for CD Tenerife in the semi-finals of the 1996/97 UEFA Cup. The midfielder scored from the penalty spot to give the Spanish side a 1-0 home win, but they were pegged back in Gelsenkirchen, eventually losing to an extra-time goal.

• Jokanović also played against Germany for the then Yugoslavia in the 1998 FIFA World Cup finals, earning a 2-2 draw which helped both teams progress from Group F.

• Partizan's Juca and Ivan Obradović are within a booking of a one-match suspension.

• Stuttgart lost 2-0 at Sevilla FC in their opening Group B fixture while Partizan went down 2-1 at home against UC Sampdoria, with Lamine Diarra scoring their only goal.

• R. Standard de Liège are at home against Sevilla in Matchday 2's other Group C game. Sampdoria are the only team in the section not in action on Thursday.