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Rapid hoping for more of the same against Beşiktaş

Having hosted Beşiktaş JK on three occasions and won every time, SK Rapid Wien will hope to kick-start their UEFA Europa League Group L campaign when the Turkish side visit for a fourth time.

After losing at Porto on Matchday 1, Thomas Hinum (left) and his Rapid team will hope for better against Beşiktaş
After losing at Porto on Matchday 1, Thomas Hinum (left) and his Rapid team will hope for better against Beşiktaş ©Getty Images

As these two sides prepare to meet for the seventh time, SK Rapid Wien will look to continue a run of three straight home wins against Beşiktaş JK and get off the mark in UEFA Europa League Group L.

Previous meetings
• The teams are meeting for the seventh time in UEFA club competition, with Rapid having eliminated their guests from the 1960/61 European Champion Clubs' Cup preliminary round, the first round of the 1967/68 European Cup and at same stage of the 1984/85 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.

• The teams for their most recent meeting in Vienna on 18 September 1984, which Otto Barić's Rapid won 4-1, were:
Rapid: Feurer, Lainer, Brauneder (Weinhofer, 76), Pregesbauer, Weber, Kienast, Kranjčar, Panenka, Krankl, Bručić, Pacult.
Beşiktaş: Zafer Öğer, Ulvi Güveneroğlu, Kadir Akbulut, Haluk Serenli, Samet Aybaba, Rıza Çalımbay, Necdet Ergün, Metin Tekin (Ali Gültiken, 76), Kovačević, Fikret Demirer (Feyyaz Uçar, 76), Šećerbegović.

• Current Rapid coach Peter Pacult played in this latter fixture, and came on as a substitute in the subsequent 1-1 draw in Istanbul.

Match background 
• Rapid's 16 games against Turkish sides have ended W8 D2 L6 (W6 D1 L1 at home). However, they have not won in their last two games against Süper Lig opponents in Vienna.

• Rapid are the only Austrian team Beşiktaş have played, with their record of W1 D1 L4 including three away defeats.

• Rapid are unbeaten in four European home games since a 3-0 loss to Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC in last season's UEFA Europa League group stage.

• Beşiktaş have not lost in five away games, with that run including a 1-0 win at Manchester United FC in last season's UEFA Champions League group stage.

Team facts
• Rapid coach since 2006, Pacult played for all three of the big Vienna sides – Wiener SC, Rapid and Austria Wien – as a striker. He won two league titles with FC Tirol Innsbruck, as well as earning 24 Austria caps. A losing UEFA Cup Winners' Cup finalist with Rapid in 1984/85, he later coached TSV 1860 München, FC Kärnten and 1. FC Dynamo Dresden, before claiming the Austrian title with Rapid in 2007/08.

• Beşiktaş coach since June, Bernd Schuster started his career at 1. FC Köln but spent his finest years as a midfielder with FC Barcelona, Real Madrid CF and Club Atlético de Madrid. He retired in 1997 with winners' medals from three Liga titles, six Spanish Cups, the 1981/82 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and the 1980 UEFA European Championship.

• He returned to Real Madrid as coach in 2007, leading them to the title but resigning later the same year.

• Austria has a substantial Turkish community, with Rapid's Yasin Pehlivan, Tanju Kayhan and Veli Kavlak all born in Vienna, but of Turkish origin.

• Beşiktaş's Ekrem Dağ was born in Turkey but has played for Austria at international level, having moved to the alpine country when he was eight. He made his professional debut at SK Sturm Graz.

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