Basel v Sevilla background

The 2015/16 UEFA Europa League final hosts take on reigning champions Sevilla FC in the round of 16, with the visitors still on the look-out for a first European away win this season.

Previous meetings
• The clubs are meeting for the first time in UEFA competition.

• FC Basel 1893's record in 16 games against Spanish sides is W2 D4 L10 (W2 D2 L4 in Basel – W0 D2 L6 in Spain). Those fixtures include their heaviest UEFA home defeat – a 5-0 loss to FC Barcelona in October 2008 – as well as their worst UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League away result, 5-0 after extra time against Valencia CF in April 2014.

• Sevilla's only previous match against Swiss opponents in Europe produced a 4-0 victory at Grasshopper Club Zürich in the UEFA Cup group stage in November 2006.

Form guide
• Basel have lost just once in six European home games this season (W3 D2 L1).

• Sevilla have lost all four of their UEFA away fixtures this term; they did not lose a single match in last year's knockout phase (W7 D1) en route to defeating FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 3-2 in the final.

• Basel most recently played in the round of 16 in 2013/14, when they battled through to the last eight. Their best campaign in this competition came in 2012/13 when they progressed to the semi-finals, falling to eventual winners Chelsea FC.

• Sevilla won the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League for a record fourth time last term. No team have won three consecutive editions of a UEFA competition since FC Bayern München's third straight European Champion Clubs' Cup triumph in 1975/76. Sevilla are the first club to contest the UEFA Europa League round of 16 for three seasons running.

Trivia and links
• The journey from Seville to Basel is just under 1,600km.

• The 2016 UEFA Europa League final will be held at Basel's St. Jakob-Park on 18 May. Two sides have played one-legged finals at their own stadiums in this competition – Feyenoord overcoming Borussia Dortmund 3-2 in the 2002 showpiece in Rotterdam, and Sporting Clube de Portugal crashing 3-1 to PFC CSKA Moskva in the 2005 decider at their Estadio José Alvalade.

• Basel are the only reigning domestic champions left in this season's UEFA Europa League.

• Sevilla's Daniel Carriço became the first player to make 50 UEFA Europa League outings (group stage to final) in the round of 16 second leg.

• The second leg of this tie will be Sevilla's 150th UEFA club competition game – and will take place on defender Federico Fazio's 29th birthday.

• Basel's Marek Suchý and Sevilla's Nicolás Pareja were both central defenders at FC Spartak Moskva from 2010–14. Sevilla's Unai Emery coached both players at Spartak in 2012.

• Basel's Walter Samuel and Sevilla's Marco Andreolli were FC Internazionale Milano colleagues from 2013–14.

The coaches
• Urs Fischer took charge of Basel this summer following Paulo Sousa's move to ACF Fiorentina. The former FC Zürich defender had already guided Zürich (2011/12) and FC Thun (2013/14) into the UEFA Europa League group stage, but this is the first time he has steered a team to the knockout phase.

• Unai Emery oversaw Sevilla's successes in the last two editions of the UEFA Europa League, having assumed control in January 2013. The one-time midfielder made his name in a four-year stay at the Valencia helm and briefly coached Spartak Moskva in 2012.