Partizan v Augsburg background

FK Partizan will reach the round of 32 if they avoid disaster against FC Augsburg, the German side needing to avenge a 3-1 defeat to replace their opponents in the top two in Group L.

• Augsburg can only overtake Partizan if they win by a margin of two goals or more, other than 2-0. If it ends 3-1 to Augsburg, the German side will qualify on overall goal difference.

Previous meetings
• In their first European home game – and their first encounter with Serbian opponents – Augsburg lost 3-1 to Partizan on matchday two. It was Partizan's first win in eight visits to Germany, the previous seven having all ended in defeat.

• Partizan's 14 matches against German clubs have ended W5 D0 L9 (W4 D0 L2 at home).

Form guide
• Partizan had won all four of their 2015/16 European home games before matchday three, when they were beaten 2-0 by Athletic Club.

• Augsburg's only European victories to date have been home and away against AZ Alkmaar. They have scored at least once in all five of their UEFA Europa League games.

• Partizan are featuring in this group stage for the seventh time, but have not made it to the round of 32 since their first appearance in 2004/05.

• Founded in 1907, Augsburg secured a fifth-placed finish in Germany last term to qualify directly for the UEFA Europa League group stage. They were the only team making their continental bow on matchday one.

Trivia and links
• The journey from Augsburg to Belgrade is around 850km.

• Augsburg's Raúl Bobadilla is the second highest scorer in the 2015/16 group stage with five goals – one fewer than Athletic Club's Aritz Aduriz.

• Augsburg's Piotr Trochowski was an unused substitute when Sevilla FC beat SL Benfica in the 2014 UEFA Europa League final

• Partizan midfielder Saša Ilić and Augsburg goalkeeper Alex Manninger were briefly team-mates at FC Salzburg in 2008.

• Partizan midfielder Ivan Petrović played in Germany with TSV Alemannia Aachen in 2004/05.

• Partizan are one of ten sides in this season's group stage that qualified for Europe as domestic champions, along with KF Skenderbëu (Albania), Qarabağ FK (Azerbaijan), APOEL FC (Cyprus), FC Viktoria Plzeň (Czech Republic), FC Midtjylland (Denmark), KKS Lech Poznań (Poland), Celtic FC (Scotland), Molde FK (Norway) and FC Basel 1893 (Switzerland).

The coaches
• Ljubinko Drulović replaced Zoran Milinković at Partizan ahead of matchday three. Most recently coach of FYR Macedonia, he was a winger at Partizan towards the end of a playing career in which he won five Portuguese titles with FC Porto. Now 47, the former Yugoslavian international was briefly stand-in coach of Serbia in 2014.

• Ausgburg coach Markus Weinzierl's playing career peaked when he spent a season with the first-team squad at FC Bayern München, though he never played a senior game. Augsburg appointed him coach in 2012 following a spell at SSV Jahn Regensburg and he has thrived in the role, last term's fifth-place finish a club best.