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Belgium wary of Baku banana skin

Belgium visit Baku hoping to keep a grip on second place in Group A but Berti Vogts' Azerbaijan will have other ideas as they look to match their surprise win against Turkey.

Timmy Simons celebrates a goal against Azerbaijan in Brussels
Timmy Simons celebrates a goal against Azerbaijan in Brussels ©Getty Images

Having already beaten Turkey in Baku, Azerbaijan will look to knock Georges Leekens' Belgium out of their stride when the second-ranked side in UEFA EURO 2012 Group A head east.

• Berti Vogts' men surprised Turkey 1-0 back in October, but have lost their three qualifiers since, including a 4-1 away defeat by Belgium on 29 March.

• When the countries met in Brussels, Ruslan Abışov took four minutes to cancel out Jan Vertonghen's opening goal, but Timmy Simons restored Belgium's lead from the penalty spot just after the half-hour mark. Nacer Chadli then struck in first-half added time, with Jelle Vossen rounding off the win with 16 minutes remaining.

• The teams are meeting for the fourth time, with Belgium having beaten Azerbaijan 3-0 in Brussels and 1-0 in Baku in qualifying for the 2008 UEFA European Championship.

• Their first meeting came on 11 October 2006, when a Simons penalty gave the hosts the lead before Azerbaijan's Yuri Muzika was shown a straight red card just before half-time. Kevin Vandenbergh and Moussa Dembélé completed the scoring, though the latter was dismissed in the closing minutes.

• The rematch on 21 November the following year was settled by Luigi Pieroni's strike.

• Azerbaijan coach Vogts played in West Germany's 2-1 win against Belgium at the 1972 UEFA European Championship, and masterminded four wins against Belgium in his time as coach of the reunited Germany.

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