Atlético obstacle for Panathinaikos

Vastly experienced at navigating a route through UEFA Champions League qualifying, Panathinaikos FC will need to be at their best to deny play-off round rivals Club Atlético de Madrid a group-stage place.

Previous meetings

• With both sides already through to the Round of 32, the teams met in the UEFA Cup group stage on 20 December 2007, Atlético recovering from falling behind to a 16th-minute opener from Dimitris Salpingidis to level through Luís García ten minutes after half-time and snatching victory with Simão's free-kick in added time despite Raúl García's 81st-minute dismissal.

• The teams were:
Atlético: Christian Abbiati, Luis Perea, Zé Castro (Reyes 61), Fabiano Eller, Antonio López, Luís García, Raúl García, Cléber Santana (Simão 46), Maxi Rodríguez, Diego Forlán, Sergio Agüero (Pablo Ibañez 90).
Panathinaikos: Arkadiusz Malarz, Loukas Vintra, Nasief Morris, José Sarriegi, Panagiotis Fyssas, Simão (Elini Dimoutsos 85), Alexandros Tziolis, Marcelo Mattos, Sebastián Romero (Andreas Ivanschitz 68), Dimitris Salpingidis (Vangelis Mantzios 79), Dimitrios Papadopoulos.

• Panathinaikos's participation in last year's UEFA Champions League was ended by Spanish opposition, Villarreal CF triumphing in the first knockout round. The two teams drew 1-1 in Spain before the Yellow Submarine prevailed 2-1 in Greece.

• That was the Greens' first home loss to a Spanish club, taking their record on their own turf to three wins, five draws and one defeat.

• Panathinaikos's run to the quarter-finals in 2001/02 was ended by FC Barcelona, the Athens outfit having previously faced RCD Mallorca in the first group stage and Real Madrid CF in the second group stage.

• Atlético have yet to triumph in Greece, having drawn twice and tasted defeat twice on their four visits.

• They have tasted victory in two of four two-legged ties with Greek teams, most recently compiling a 9-6 aggregate win over PAOK FC in the 1997/98 UEFA Cup. OFI Crete FC proved too strong in the 1993/94 UEFA Cup, in contrast, as did Panionios GSS in the same tournament in 1971/72.

Match background

• Third in the Greek Super League last term, Panathinaikos topped a four-team play-off tournament to book a third qualifying round berth, where they staged a dramatic 3-0 second-leg victory over AC Sparta Praha to win 4-3 on aggregate. José Sarriegi, Kostas Katsouranis and Dimitris Salpingidis all struck in Athens.

• Henk ten Cate's side also downed Sparta last season to set up an eighth group-stage campaign. Veterans of the qualifying rounds, they have successfully taken this route six times, losing only to Rosenborg BK in 1996/97.

• Los Colchoneros finished fourth in the 2008/09 Spanish Liga to enter the play-off round and are aiming to reach the group stage for a third time. They defeated FC Schalke 04 in their only previous tilt at qualifying last season.

Team ties

• Panathinaikos midfielder Gilberto Silva and Atlético forward José Antonio Reyes were Arsenal FC club-mates from 2004 to 2007.

• Greens striker Djibril Cissé and Atlético forward Florent Sinama-Pongolle were at Liverpool FC between 2004 and 2006.