Situation critical for Austria Wien

FK Austria Wien have it all to do as Athletic Club make their second trip to Vienna, with the home side needing three points to have any chance of reaching the last 32 as one of the top two in UEFA Europa League Group L.

• With Werder Bremen already certain of qualifying, the only way Austria Wien – and indeed CD Nacional – can progress is if they take maximum points from their final two games and Athletic slip up.

Previous meetings
• Athletic were 3-0 winners when the sides met at San Mamés on Matchday 1, avenging a 2-1 home defeat from the last 32 of the 2004/05 UEFA Cup.

• Lars Sondergaard's Austria Wien had drawn 0-0 with Ernesto Valverde's Athletic in the first leg on 24 February 2004. The game had been rescheduled after heavy snow in Vienna forced the original fixture on 17 February to be postponed.

• The teams in Vienna that night were:
Austria Wien: Didulica, Afolabi, Antonsson, Papac, Dospel, Sionko, Vastic (Mila, 75), Vachousek, Blanchard, Kiesenebner (Wagner, 85), Rushfeldt (Gilewicz, 65).
Athletic: Lafuente, Casas, Ezquerro (Urzaiz, 83), Yeste* (Bordas, 89), Lacruz, Prieto, Iraola* (Del Horno, 72), Orbaiz*, Etxeberria*, Gurpegi*, Murillo.

*currently at the club

• Austria Wien have won only one of their eight home games against Spanish sides – a 1-0 UEFA Cup group-stage victory against Real Zaragoza on 4 November 2004. The other seven encounters produced five draws and two home defeats.

Match background
• Austria Wien are unbeaten in 12 European games at the Franz Horr Stadium since a 1-0 UEFA Intertoto Cup loss to Udinese Calcio on 26 July 2000. In the intervening period, they played 16 home matches at the Ernst Happel Stadium, with their record reading W4 D5 L7.

• Athletic have won just one of their last six away games, a 2-1 win at BSC Young Boys in this season's UEFA Europa League third qualifying round.

Team facts
• Austria Wien boss Karl Daxbacher won six caps as a midfielder for his country in a playing career which saw him spend 14 years at the club he now serves as coach. He returned to take the reins in 2008, following a spell in charge at LASK Linz.

• A coach since his mid-20s, Athletic boss Joaquín Caparrós has been in charge at San Mamés since 2007, having worked his way up through the lower leagues to take charge of the likes of Villarreal CF, Sevilla FC – whom he led in the 2004/05 UEFA Cup group stage – and RC Deportivo La Coruña.

• Austria Wien playmaker Milenko Ačimovič twice came on as a substitute against Spain with his national team Slovenia – in a 2-1 defeat at UEFA EURO 2000™ (in which Athletic's Joseba Etxeberria scored the winner) and a 3-1 loss at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

• Athletic are famous for their policy of only signing players who have come through their youth ranks, the academies of other Basque clubs or those who have been born in the Basque country.

• Athletic's Iker Muniain became the youngest scorer in Spanish league history when he registered in his side's 2-2 draw with Real Valladolid CF on 4 October at the age of 16 years and 289 days.

• All three of Austria Wien's group-stage goals have been scored in the second half.

• Athletic's Fernando Llorente is one of six players currently topping the UEFA Europa League top scorers standings on four goals along with Claudio Pizarro (Werder Bremen), Gervinho (LOSC Lille Metropole), Óscar Cardozo (SL Benfica), Alexander Frei (FC Basel 1893) and Luiz Adriano (FC Shakhtar Donetsk).

• Athletic host Bremen on Matchday 6, with Austria Wien visiting Nacional on the same night, 16 December.