Schalke v Krasnodar background

Schalke can confirm their progress to the round of 32 on matchday four after a 100% start in Group I, with Krasnodar also in the running for a top-two finish.

• Schalke are through with a win, or if they draw and Nice do not beat Salzburg.

• Salzburg are out if they lose, or if they draw and Krasnodar avoid defeat.

Previous meetings
• The sides met for the first time in UEFA competition on matchday three, Schalke triumphing 1-0 in Russia in what was their first match against Russian opponents.

• Krasnodar's record in five games against German teams is W1 L4 (L2 in Germany). They have taken on Bundesliga opposition in all three of their UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns – Wolfsburg in 2014/15, Dortmund in 2015/16 and now Schalke.

Form guide
• Zenit, Shakhtar and Schalke are the only clubs to come into matchday four with nine points. Schalke have conceded just once in their three Group I victories.

• Krasnodar are unbeaten in three European away fixtures this season (W2 D1), during which they have not let in a single goal.

• Schalke have made it through three of their past four UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns.

• The Russian outfit progressed to the last 32 in 2015/16, after missing out in their maiden UEFA Europa League group stage foray the year before.

Links and trivia
• The journey from Krasnodar to Gelsenkirchen is around 2,450km.

• Krasnodar's Polish defender Artur Jędrzejczyk turns 29 the day after the game.

• Krasnodar's Joãozinho is one of seven players topping the group stage scorers chart with three goals along with Giuliano (Zenit), Nikola Kalinić (Fiorentina), Leon Bailey (Genk), Guillaume Hoarau (Young Boys), Aleksandar Kokorin (Zenit) and Khouma Babacar (Fiorentina).

• Klaas-Jan Huntelaar's next goal will be his 50th in UEFA club competition. The Schalke ace has not scored in his last six European outings.

The coaches
• Schalke boss Markus Weinzierl reached last season's UEFA Europa League round of 32 with Augsburg, whom he had coached since 2012. His playing career peaked when he spent a season with the first-team squad at Bayern München in 1998/99, though he never made a senior appearance.

• Igor Shalimov stepped in to take temporary command of Krasnodar on 13 September following the resignation of Oleg Kononov. The former USSR, CIS and Russia midfielder, who helped Internazionale lift the 1994 UEFA Cup, had been on Kononov's staff, working with the club's strikers.