Panathinaikos v Standard Liège background

A 2-2 draw in Belgium on 20 October extended Panathinaikos and Standard's wait for a first UEFA Europa League Group G win, with the section's bottom sides quickly reunited on matchday four.

Previous meetings
• Matchday three's 2-2 draw was the teams' fifth European encounter, with Standard yet to lose against the Greens (W3 D2). The Belgians have won both of the clubs' meetings in Athens.

• In the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League round of 16, Domenico D'Onofrio's Standard beat Nikos Nioplias's Panathinaikos 3-1 in Athens and then 1-0 in Liege.

• The line-ups for that fixture in Athens on 11 March 2010 were:
Panathinaikos: Galinović, Sarriegi, Rukavina (Christodoulopoulos 71), Ninis (Karagounis 46), Kanté, Cissé, Leto* (Salpingidis 46), Gilberto Silva, Darlas, Simão, Vyntra.
Standard: Bolat, Ramos, Defour (Carcela-González 22), Mbokani, De Camargo, Camozzato, Sarr, Jovanović (Dalmat 79), Gershon, Nicaise (Mangala 67), Witsel.

• Guy Luzon's Standard were held to a 0-0 draw in the first leg of the sides' 2014/15 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round tie, but overcame Ioannis Anastasiou's team 2-1 in the Athens return.

• The line-ups for that Athens decider on 30 July 2014 were:
Panathinaikos: Kotsolis*, Koutrombis*, Trianfyllopoulos*, David Mendes (Klonaridis 56, Dinas 65), Berg*, Zeca*, Ajagun, Nano, Schildenfeld, Pranjić, Petrić (Karelis 56).
Standard: Kawashima, Jorge Teixeira, Ciman, Stam, De Camargo, Mbombo (Ajdarević 71), Carcela-González (Watt 54), Arslangic*, Van Damme, Mujangi Bia (M'Poku 20), Lumanza.

• Panathinaikos's 17 matches against Belgian opposition have ended W3 D6 L8 (W3 D3 L2 at home).

• Standard's record in 11 games against Greek clubs is W7 D3 L1 (W3 D1 L1 in Greece).

Form guide
• Panathinaikos are without a win in four European fixtures, their 2-1 home loss to Ajax on matchday one having also halted a five-match unbeaten run at home (W3 D2). Barring qualifying, they are without a victory in ten UEFA Europa League games (D3 L7).

• Standard have lost six of their latest seven European away games, a 1-0 qualifying success at Željezničar in 2015 the only victory in that sequence.

• Having safely negotiated their first three UEFA Cup or UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns, Panathinaikos failed to advance in their last two attempts.

• Standard have progressed in two of their five UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage forays, missing the cut in their last two attempts, most recently in 2014/15.

Links and trivia
• The journey from Liege to Athens is around 2,000km.

• Panathinaikos come into matchday four having received more cards (15 yellow and two red) than any other side in this season's group stage.

• Panathinaikos's DR Congo international winger Paul-José M'Poku was a Standard player from 2011–15, netting 19 goals in 94 league outings. He featured as a substitute for Standard in their last home fixture with Panathinaikos (see above).

• Standard winger Mathieu Dossevi represented Panathinaikos's local rivals Olympiacos from 2014–15, while Cypriot international Kostas Laifis is on loan at Standard from the Piraeus club.

• Standard's Jean-François Gillet and Panathinaikos's Sebastián Leto were both on Catania's books in 2015, though the latter was loaned to Argentinian outfit Lanús during that period.

The coaches
• Italian coach Andrea Stramaccioni steered Panathinaikos to a third-place finish in Greece last term, his first in Athens. A qualified lawyer whose playing career was curtailed by injury, he specialised as a youth coach before managing Internazionale Milano and Udinese in Serie A.

• Aleksandar Janković replaced Yannick Ferrera at the Standard helm in early September. Once assistant to fellow Serb Slavoljub Muslin at several clubs, the 44-year-old has coached Crvena zvezda, Serbia's Under-21s and – in Belgium – Lokeren and Mechelen.