Deja vu for Standard and Hannover

It will be deja vu all round as R. Standard de Liège meet Hannover 96 in the UEFA Europa League round of 16, with the sides having met twice already in this season's group stage.

Previous meetings
• Standard and Hannover are getting reacquainted barely three months after their last meeting. The sides were drawn together in the group stage; they drew 0-0 in Germany before Mohamed Tchite (26) and Gohi Bi Cyriac (59) gave Standard a 2-0 home win in the return.

• The teams for that game in Liege on 30 November 2011 were:
Standard: Bolat, Goreux, Felipe, Tchite, Cyriac (Nacho González 87), Pocognoli, Buyens (Belhocine 89), Seijas, Vainqueur, Kanu, Mujangi (Buzaglo 90+1).
Hannover: Zieler, Haggui, Pogatetz, Cherundulo, Sergio Pinto, Schlaudraff, Schulz (Rausch 63), Pander, Abdellaoue (Sobiech 80), Stindl (Konen Ya 51), Schiedebach.

Match backgrounds
• Standard's 27 games against German sides have ended W7 D7 L13 (W4 D3 L5 at home). Prior to beating Hannover in November, they had gone ten games without a victory against Bundesliga opposition.

• Since their group stage meetings with Standard, Hannover have met more Begian opponents, eliminating Club Brugge KV in the round of 32. Their record in four games against Belgian sides reads W2 D1 L1 (W1 D0 L1 in Belgium).

• Standard have gone ten matches unbeaten in this term's UEFA Europa League with six wins and four draws. They have yet to concede at home in five European games this season.

• Standard last reached the round of 16 in 2009/10, beating Panathinaikos FC but bowing out to Hamburger SV in their next tie.

• Hannover are competing in UEFA competition for only the second time in their history, and this is the first time they have played in a post-Christmas club competition fixture. Their previous campaign, in the 1992/93 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, ended in a 4-3 aggregate defeat by SV Werder Bremen.

Team facts
• Standard's next goal will be their 300th in UEFA club competition; this is their 197th UEFA game.

• Hannover's 1-0 win at Club Brugge in their round of 32 decider was their third success on the road in European competition; they have yet to win by a margin of more than one goal on their travels in Europe.

• Standard boss José Riga is competing in Europe for the first time. Born in Liege, he previously served as the club's joint-coach, alongside his predecessor Dominique D'Onofrio, from 2003 to 2005. Since then, he has been in sole command of RAEC Mons and RCS Visé.

• Hannover coach Mirko Slomka led the club he had previously served as a player and assistant into Europe with a fourth-placed Bundesliga finish in his first season in charge.

• Slomka is competing in the group stage of this competition for the first time, but enjoyed success in the 2005/06 edition. He led FC Schalke 04 from the round of 32 to the semi-finals after replacing Ralf Rangnick as coach following the group phase.

Competition statistics
• An updated version of the UEFA Europa League Statistics Handbook is available here:
http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/news/newsid=1750416.html