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AEK keen to prove a point against Everton

AEK Athens FC will look to avenge a Matchday 1 mauling on Merseyside as Everton return to Athens, with a win potentially sealing the English side's place in the last 32 of the UEFA Europa League.

AEK keen to prove a point against Everton
AEK keen to prove a point against Everton ©UEFA.com

AEK Athens FC will look to avenge a Matchday 1 mauling on Merseyside as Everton return to Athens, with a win potentially sealing the English side's place in the last 32 of the UEFA Europa League.

• A draw will guarantee AEK something to play for on Matchday 6 but a loss would mark the end of their campaign, while Everton will qualify if they win and FC BATE Borisov fail to prevail against section leaders SL Benfica.

Previous meetings
• Everton beat AEK 4-0 in Liverpool when the sides met for the first time on Matchday 1. AEK have won two and lost two of their home games against English outfits, while Everton's only previous trip to Greece ended in a goalless draw at Panathinaikos FC.

Match background
• AEK are unbeaten at home in Europe this season, and conceded their first European goals at the OACA Spiros Louis Stadium in over a year in Matchday 4's 2-2 draw with BATE.

• Everton come into the game on the back of a grim pair of outings against Benfica. A 5-0 loss to the Portuguese side on Matchday 3 was their heaviest away defeat in Europe, while a 2-0 loss on 5 November was their biggest UEFA club competition home reverse.

Team facts
• Dušan Bajević is in his third spell as AEK coach. The former Yugoslavia striker spent four years at the club as a player, winning Greek titles in 1978 and 1979, in between spells with FK Velež from his native Mostar.

• He won four Greek championships in his first stint as AEK coach (1988-96) before incensing many fans by moving to Olympiacos FC and winning titles there in three successive seasons. He rejoined AEK in 2002 but quit midway through a match against Iraklis FC in 2004. His current reign began in 2008.

• Everton's Scottish manager David Moyes had an unremarkable career as a central defender after starting off as a trainee at Celtic FC. He played the bulk of his games for Shrewsbury Town FC, Dunfermline Athletic FC and Preston North End FC, whom he later coached before moving to Goodison Park in 2002.

• Bajević played in three games against English opposition, scoring once in a 4-1 win against Derby County FC with FK Velež. He also appeared in both legs of AEK's 1979/80 European Champion Clubs' Cup second-round tie against Nottingham Forest FC.

• AEK lost the first leg 2-1 at home and the second leg 5-1 in England, with Bajević the scorer of his team's goal at the City Ground. That was AEK's most recent meeting with an English club prior to Matchday 1.

• During his time as a coach, Bajević has come up against three English sides: Liverpool FC and Newcastle United FC when at the helm of Olympiacos FC and Bolton Wanderers FC during his reign at Aris Thessaloniki FC. Having earned a 1-0 home triumph over Liverpool with Olympiacos in the first of those games, he is now without a win in five fixtures against English opposition.

• Former Everton player and manager Howard Kendall went on to coach Greek club Skoda Xanthi FC in 1994 after his second spell in charge at Goodison Park.

• AEK stands for Athlitiki Enosis Konstantinoupoleos (Athletic Union of Constantinople). The club were founded by refugees from Istanbul.

• AEK have had four English coaches: Jack Bimby (1948-51), Ted Crawford (1953-54), Stan Anderson (1973-74) and John Barnwell (1983-84).

• All four of AEK's group-stage goals to date have been scored in the first half.

• AEK have the worst disciplinary record of any side in the competition, having collected 14 yellow cards and four reds.

• AEK visit Benfica on Matchday 6, with Everton hosting BATE on the same night, 17 December.