Club Brugge seek lift-off at Dinamo Zagreb
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Article summary
Club Brugge KV visit second-placed NK Dinamo Zagreb seeking a first victory in Group D which would lift them off the foot of the section and above their opponents.
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Article body
NK Dinamo Zagreb encounter Belgian opponents for the second UEFA Europa League group stage in succession with Club Brugge KV eager to get off the bottom of Group D.
Previous meetings
• The sides are meeting for the first time in UEFA club competition, while this is also Club Brugge's maiden experience of Croatian opposition.
• Dinamo's three previous games against Belgian teams ended W2 D0 L1 (W1 D0 L1 at home). They played RSC Anderlecht in last season's UEFA Europa League group stage, losing 2-0 at home but winning 1-0 away.
Match background
• Dinamo are unbeaten in four European home games this season – three wins and a draw. Matchday 1's 2-0 win against Villarreal CF ended a four-game wait for a group stage home victory, during which the Croatian champions scored only once.
• Club Brugge have won only two of their last 11 European away games, beating FC Dinamo Minsk 3-1 in this season's UEFA Europa League play-offs, and FK Partizan 4-2 in the 2009/10 group stage.
Team facts
• Club Brugge have played more UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League games than any other club involved in this season's group stage; this will be their 127th.
• Dinamo are coached by Bosnian-born Vahid Halilhodžić, once a striker for Yugoslavia. Having shone at FK Velež, he spent the latter part of his playing career in France with FC Nantes Atlantique – winning the 1982/83 Ligue 1 title – and Paris Saint-Germain FC. He would lead the latter to French Cup success in 2004. The much-travelled coach took the helm in Zagreb in August.
• As a winger for Roda JC and PSV Eindhoven, Club Brugge coach Adrie Koster was capped three times by the Netherlands. He started his coaching career in the lower leagues in his home country, before taking charge of AFC Ajax's reserve team. The Amsterdam side's caretaker coach in the 2007/08 season, he moved to Bruges in the summer of 2009.
• Club Brugge boast Croatian talent in the form of striker Ivan Perišić, once a trainee with Dinamo's arch-rivals HNK Hajduk Split.
• Former Croatia goalkeeper Tomislav Butina represented both clubs, playing for Dinamo twice (1992-2003 and 2008-10) and for Club Brugge from 2003 to 2006. He won six Croatian titles and one in Belgium.
