Steaua seek improvement at Basel's expense

FC Steaua Bucureşti will be hoping for their first points in this season's UEFA Champions League when they take on FC Basel 1893, who are facing Romanian opponents for the fourth successive season.

• Steaua lost both opening fixtures, conceding seven goals without scoring themselves, while Basel could not build on their surprise 2-1 matchday one victory at Chelsea FC, going down 1-0 at home to FC Schalke 04 last time out.

Previous meetings
• Steaua are unbeaten in their four home games against Swiss opponents and have enjoyed resounding wins – 6-0 against BSC Young Boys in the 1979/80 European Cup Winners' Cup first round and 4-1 against Servette FC in the 1994/95 UEFA Champions League qualifying round.

• After a 1-1 home draw against FC St Gallen in the 2001/02 UEFA Cup first round that confirmed a 3-2 aggregate defeat, their last encounter was the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League play-off with Grasshopper Club. Both legs ended 1-0 to the home team with Steaua going through 4-3 on penalties. Ciprian Tătărușanu was the hero, saving two spot kicks. Kay Voser and Endogan Adili were in the Grasshoppers team.

• Basel lost 1-0 in Romania to CFR 1907 Cluj in the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League play-off, Pantelis Kapetanos scoring the only goal. After losing 2-1 at home it meant they missed out on a place in the group stage. They faced the same team in the 2010/11 group stage, losing 2-1 away and winning 1-0 at home.

• Basel fared better in 2011/12 when they were paired with FC Oţelul Galaţi in the group stage, winning 2-1 at home and 3-2 in Bucharest.

Match background
• Last season Basel narrowly failed to become the first Swiss side to make it to the final of a major UEFA club tournament, losing 5-2 on aggregate to Chelsea in the UEFA Europa League semi-finals.

• Steaua are the only Romanian club to have triumphed in Europe, winning the European Champion Clubs' Cup in 1985/86 by defeating FC Barcelona in a penalty shoot-out.

• In their first participation in the group stage since 2008/09, the Bucharest club have won just four of their 38 group matches over seven campaigns, picking up 11 draws. Their last victory came at FC Dynamo Kyiv on 13 September 2006, since when they have recorded 15 defeats and four draws. At home they have not won in four campaigns including this one, their last success coming against RTS Widzew Łódź 1-0 on 16 October 1996.

• Their away form served Laurenţiu Reghecampf's team well in the qualifying rounds, a 2-2 draw at Legia Warszawa taking them through the play-offs on away goals after a 1-1 home draw.

• In the third qualifying round teenager Gabriel Iancu scored twice to earn the Romanian champions a 2-0 win at FC Dinamo Tbilisi, a 1-1 draw at the Arena Națională ensuring their passage. Steaua beat FK Vardar 3-0 at home in the second qualifying round – their 100th win in UEFA competition – going through 5-1 overall.

Team ties
• Basel vice president Adrian Knup, who played for VfB Stuttgart, scored twice in Switzerland's 4-1 win against Romania in Detroit on 22 June in the 1994 FIFA World Cup.

• Marco Streller scored twice in Stuttgart's 4-2 win against Reghecampf's Alemannia Aachen on 4 November 2006.

• The pair faced each other once more on 31 March 2007 when Streller scored again in Stuttgart's 3-1 win.

• Both coaches spent time as players in the Bundesliga; Reghecampf had nine years there and Murat Yakin two. For both, their last German club was 1. FC Kaiserslautern: Yakin in the second half of 2000/01 and Reghecampf in 2008/09.

• Romania and Switzerland last met on 30 May 2012 for a friendly international in Lucerne with Romania winning 1-0. Alexandru Bourceanu, Alexandru Chipciu and Cristian Tănase featured for the visitors while the hosts included Yann Sommer and Valentin Stocker.

• Daniel Georgievski's Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia were 2-0 winners in a Skopje friendly against Ivan Ivanov's Bulgaria on 14 August 2013.