Legia look to end long wait against Steaua

Legia Warszawa will look to end a 18-year exile from the UEFA Champions League group stage when they host FC Steaua București in the second leg of their play-off tie.

• The Polish title holders edged a step closer to only their second group appearance when holding Steaua 1-1 in Romania, Jakub Kosecki (53) cancelling out Federico Piovaccari's (34) opening strike at the Stadionul Naţional.

Match background
• Legia are hoping to make it third time lucky after twice losing in the final round of qualifying recently, against FC Barcelona in 2002/03 and FC Shakhtar Donetsk in 2006/07.

• Last season Legia won through two qualifying rounds in the UEFA Europa League only to go down 3-2 on aggregate to Rosenborg BK in the play-offs.

• Legia have suffered just one defeat in their last 13 home European fixtures. They have yet to concede a home goal in this season's competition, having beaten The New Saints FC 1-0 and held Molde FK 0-0 – a result that secured progress on away goals after a 1-1 first-leg draw in Norway.

• Steaua made their sixth and most recent group stage appearance in 2008/09. The Romanian title holders have fallen short in qualifying on four occasions, most recently in 2005/06 against Rosenborg in the third qualifying round as they drew 1-1 at home and then lost 3-2 away.

• Overall Steaua have lost six of the ten UEFA competition ties in which they drew the first leg at home.

• However, Laurenţiu Reghecampf's team have won both their away games in this season's qualifiers, beating FYROM's NK Vardar 2-1 and FC Dinamo Tbilisi of Georgia 2-0. Their away record in last season's UEFA Europa League was W3 D2 L2.

• Miroslav Radović scored twice and Michał Kucharczyk added a third goal when Legia won their last home fixture against Romanian opposition, 3-1 against FC Rapid Bucureşti in the UEFA Europa League group stage in November 2011. They had earlier beaten Rapid in Romania, Radović scoring the only goal.

• For the reigning Polish champions, that was the first meeting with Romanian opposition since a 4-2 aggregate defeat by Rapid in the 1971/72 UEFA Cup second round – though they did win the second leg at home 2-0.

• Legia's only previous European Cup encounter with a Romanian team was against FCM UTA Arad in the 1969/70 first round and brought their second-highest win in UEFA competition. After a 2-1 first-leg success, Legia triumphed 8-0 back in Warsaw, seven of their eight goals coming in the last 20 minutes. Edmund Zientara's team went on to reach the semi-finals where they lost to eventual champions Feyenoord.

• Steaua's only previous two-legged contest with a Polish side came against Zagłębie Lubin in the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League second qualifying round. Dorin Goian struck the only goal of the first leg in Poland, and Bănel Nicoliţă and Dorel Zaharia earned them a 2-1 comeback victory in the return.

• The Bucharest club also faced RTS Widzew Łódź in the 1996/97 group stage, winning 1-0 at home but losing 2-0 away.

• Legia have never contested a penalty shoot-out in UEFA competition, while Steaua's record is:
4-2 v AFC Ajax, 2012/13 UEFA Europa League round of 32
4-3 v Grasshopper Club, 2010/11 UEFA Europa League play-off
4-3 v Valencia CF, 2004/05 UEFA Cup round of 32
2-0 v FC Barcelona, 1985/86 European Champion Clubs' Cup final

Team ties
• As a Poland international, Jan Urban faced Romania's national team four times in friendly matches and did not lose once – earning two home wins and two away draws. He scored in a 2-1 home victory at the Legia Stadium on 12 April 1989.

• Dušan Kuciak spent three seasons with SC Vaslui between 2008 and 2011. He was back in Romania on 14 August as an unused substitute in Slovakia's 1-1 friendly draw with Romania at the Bucharest National Arena – precisely one week before facing Steaua at the very same venue.

• Cristian Tănase was in the Romania team that beat Poland 1-0 in a friendly played at Legia's home stadium on 14 November 2009.

• Steaua's Polish defender Łukasz Szukała has never played professional club football in his homeland, but made his Poland debut on 14 August in the city of his birth, Gdansk – a 3-2 friendly win against Denmark. He has represented clubs in France and Germany as well as Romania.