İstanbul Başakşehir v Sevilla: play-off facts and stats

A UEFA Champions League newcomer and an experienced European campaigner will go head to head for a place in the group stage when İstanbul Başakşehir take on Sevilla FC.

Previous meetings
• The play-off first leg will be İstanbul Başakşehir's first meeting with a Spanish club in UEFA competition.

• One team or other has scored three goals in each of Sevilla's three meetings with Turkish clubs in UEFA competition. The Spanish side were 3-0 home winners against Beşiktaş JK at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán in the group stage of their victorious UEFA Cup campaign in 2005/06.

• Less happily for Sevilla, their UEFA Champions League campaign was ended by Fenerbahçe SK in 2007/08. Beaten 3-2 in Istanbul in the first leg of their round of 16 tie, Sevilla won by the same scoreline in Spain only to lose the ensuing penalty shoot-out – also 3-2.

Match background
• The Turkish team got to this stage by beating Club Brugge KV 5-3 on aggregate in the third qualifying round (3-3 away, 2-0 home).

• The home victory against Club Brugge was İstanbul Başakşehir's first European win, at the eighth attempt (D3 L4).

• İstanbul Başakşehir qualified for the UEFA Champions League by finishing second in the 2016/17 Turkish Super League.

• This is only İstanbul Başakşehir's third European campaign, and their first in the UEFA Champions League. In 2015/16 they lost their opening tie, in the UEFA Europa League second qualifying round, 4-1 on aggregate to AZ Alkmaar.

• In 2016/17, İstanbul Başakşehir eliminated Croatia's HNK Rijeka on away goals in the UEFA Europa League second qualifying round (0-0 home, 2-2 away) before succumbing to FC Shakhar Donetsk (1-2 home, 0-2 away).

• The Grey Owls' home record in Europe is W1 D1 L2.

• The Spanish side are aiming to contest the group stage for the third season in a row.

• In 2016/17, Sevilla advanced to the UEFA Champions League round of 16 – the first time they had got past the group stage since 2009/10 – going down 3-2 on aggregate to Leicester City FC.

• Sevilla qualified by coming fourth in the 2016/17 Spanish Liga.

Team and coach links
• Istanbul Başakşehir's Emmanuel Adebayor and Gaël Clichy played in a 3-0 success for Arsenal FC against Sevilla in the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Adebayor played on loan for Real Madrid CF in the second half of the 2010/11 campaign, scoring against Sevilla (2-0) in the return leg of their Copa del Rey semi-final.

• Sevilla's Simon Kjær spent the 2015/16 and 2016/17 seasons with Fenerbahçe, facing the Grey Owls three times in the league (W2 L1). He also played in a Turkish Cup semi-final last term that finished 4-4 on aggregate, Istanbul Başakşehir going through 10-9 on penalties.

• İstanbul Başakşehir midfielder Emre Belözoğlu was with Club Atlético de Madrid in the first half of the 2012/13 campaign, making seven Liga appearances.

Coach profiles
• Abdullah Avcı guided Turkey to the UEFA European Under-17 Championship title in 2005 and the semi-finals of the FIFA U-17 World Cup later that year. He took charge of İstanbul Başakşehir in 2006 and, on the back of several solid seasons, succeeded Guus Hiddink as senior Turkey coach in November 2011. Avcı resigned 21 months later, returning to İstanbul Başakşehir in summer 2014.

• Eduardo Berizzo played in Spain, France and Argentina as a defender, with Marcelo Bielsa, his first coach at CA Newell's Old Boys, having a profound influence on him. After assisting Bielsa with the Chilean national team he pursued his own coaching career and landed the job at former employers RC Celta de Vigo, taking the Galicians to the semi-finals of the UEFA Europa League for the first time in 2016/17.