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Lazio's Trabzonspor denouement

Having first met in 1994, SS Lazio face Trabzonspor AŞ for a fourth time on matchday six with the two sides locked in a battle for top spot in UEFA Europa League Group J.

Mustafa Akçay celebrates his 55th birthday on matchday six
Mustafa Akçay celebrates his 55th birthday on matchday six ©Getty Images

SS Lazio can spoil Trabzonspor AŞ coach Mustafa Akçay's 55th birthday celebrations on matchday six as the top sides in Group J battle for the No1 spot.

• Both teams are already certain of a place in the round of 32 draw, but Lazio will finish second unless they can win against their Turkish visitors.

Previous meetings
• On matchday two, substitute Sergio Floccari scored twice in as many minutes to salvage a 3-3 draw for Lazio in Trabzon. It had been 3-1 at the break, Yusuf Erdoğan, Adrian Mierzejewski and Paulo Henrique on target for the home side, with Ogenyi Onazi briefly making it 2-1.

• The sides previously faced each other in the third round of the 1994/95 UEFA Cup, where Zdeněk Zeman's Lazio beat Şenol Günes's Trabzonspor 2-1 home and away.

• The teams for their previous meeting in Trabzon on 6 December 1994 were:
Lazio:
Marchegiani, Negro, Favalli (Bacci 83), Venturin, Cravero, Chamot, Rambaudi, Fuser, Casiraghi, Winter, Signori (Di Vaio 65).
Trabzonspor: Grischko, Lemi Çelik, Hamdi Aslan, Osman Özköylü, Tolunay Kafkas, Abdullah Ercan, Atila Cengiz, Ünal Karaman, Soner Boz, Hami Mandıralı, Orhan Kaynak.

Match background
• Lazio's record in 11 fixtures against Turkish teams stands at W6 D3 L2 (W3 D2 L0 in Rome, W3 D1 L2 in Turkey).

• Trabzonspor's 11 games against Italian clubs have left them with a record of W3 D4 L4 (W1 D3 L2 at home, W2 D1 L2 in Italy).

• This is Lazio's fifth group stage campaign; they missed the cut in their first two, in 2004/05 and 2009/10, but reached the 2011/12 round of 32 and last season's quarter-finals.

• Trabzonspor are unbeaten in regular and extra time in 13 European games (W9 D4). Lazio are unbeaten in six (W3 D3).

• Trabzonspor are making their debut in the UEFA Europa League group stage, though they played in the 2011/12 round of 32 after finishing third in their section in their maiden UEFA Champions League campaign.

Team facts
• Trabzonspor coach Mustafa Akçay celebrates his 55th birthday on the day of the match against Lazio.

• Trabzonspor are the group stage's top scorers with 13 goals – one more than FC Salzburg and FC Rubin Kazan.

• Olcan Adın scored the UEFA Europa League's 23rd hat-trick on matchday five in a 4-2 win against Apollon Limassol FC. He and Tottenham Hotspur FC's Jermain Defoe are now the 2013/14 competition's top scorers with five goals each, and Olcan is also responsible for three assists.

• Trabzonspor are within two goals of their 150th in UEFA club competition; this is their 109th UEFA game.

• Trabzonspor midfielder Didier Zokora and Lazio counterpart Abdoulay Konko were team-mates at Sevilla FC in 2009/10.

• Trabzonspor's Paulo Henrique was the most prolific scorer in UEFA Europa League qualifying this season with seven goals in six games.

• Lazio's Albanian midfielder Lorik Cana spent the 2010/11 season in Turkey at Galatasaray AŞ.

• Lazio coach Vladimir Petković also knows Turkish football, having managed Samsunspor from 2011 to 2012.

Coach information
• Hired in summer 2012, Petković led Lazio to the Coppa Italia in his first season in charge. Nicknamed 'Il Dottore' (the Doctor), the Sarajevo-born coach reportedly speaks eight languages and has spent most of his career in Switzerland as a midfielder and then a coach. Prior to joining Lazio, he took BSC Young Boys to the UEFA Europa League round of 32 and reached the last eight with the Biancocelesti last season.

• Trabzonspor's Mustafa Akçay spent several spells observing AFC Ajax at close hand during his coach education. He made his name by winning promotion to the second tier with TKİ Tavşanlı Linyitspor in 2009/10; their survival at that level the following season prompted Trabzonspor's feeder club 1461 Trabzon to take him on. Their third-place finish in the same division last term earned the Akçay a move to Trabzonspor in summer 2013.

 

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