Austria Wien v Astra background

Austria Wien are closing in on the UEFA Europa League round of 32 but the qualifying situation in Group E could be thrown wide open if they lose to Astra in Vienna.

• Second-placed Austria are through with a victory if Plzeň do not win at Roma; Astra are out with a defeat.

• Roma go through if they avoid defeat, or if the other game does not end in a draw.

Previous meetings
• Astra lost 3-2 at home to Austria on matchday one, the sides' first UEFA competition meeting.

• Austria's record in ten matches against Romanian teams is W4 D3 L3 (W3 D1 L1 at home).

• Astra have lost all three of their previous encounters with Austrian clubs, with the Romanian side also losing 5-1 away and 2-1 at home to Salzburg in the 2014/15 group stage.

Form guide
• Austria have not won in Group E since that matchday one success at Astra (D2 L1).

• Astra took four points from their last two group games and have won two of their four European away matches this season.

• Austria have failed to progress in their last four UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns since reaching the last eight in 2004/05.

• Astra were eliminated at the end of their only previous UEFA Europa League group stage campaign in 2014/15.

Links and trivia
• The journey from Giurgiu to Vienna is around 900km.

• Braga's Pedro Santos, Austria Wien's Felipe Pires and Villarreal's Pato were the most fouled players in the first four matchdays, with 14 infringements each against them.

The coaches
• A four-time Bundesliga winner as a Bayern München midfielder, Thorsten Fink has been in charge at Austria Wien since 2015. Twice a league champion in Switzerland as Basel coach between 2009 and 2011, he subsequently occupied the helm at Hamburg and APOEL.

• Marius Șumudică steered Astra to a maiden Romanian title in 2015/16, having previously won the league as a player with Rapid Bucureşti in 1998/99. He played in Portugal, Hungary and Cyprus as a striker, and has coached in Greece and the United Arab Emirates.