Schalke seek a second win against Hapoel

FC Schalke 04 secured their first three points of the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League by defeating SL Benfica and the visit of Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC, who have lost their first two games, offers them the opportunity to further improve their standing in Group B.

• The German side bounced back from their opening defeat at Olympique Lyonnais with a 2-0 win against Benfica on Matchday 2. Hapoel, however, lost 2-0 in Lisbon in their first game before a 3-1 home reverse against Lyon.

Previous meetings
• The teams have not met before in European club competition and it is also the first time Schalke have faced a side from Israel.

• In last season's UEFA Europa League group stage Hapoel followed a 4-2 away defeat by Hamburger SV with a 1-0 win at home. Etey Shechter was on the scoresheet in the away game.

Match background
• Schalke, making their fourth UEFA Champions League appearance, last participated in 2007/08, reaching the quarter-finals before losing home and away to FC Barcelona. They won two of their home games with one draw and defeats by Valencia CF and Barcelona.

• Hapoel are only the third Israeli team to reach the group stage. A 3-2 win at FC Salzburg in the play-off first leg paved their passage which was sealed with a 1-1 home draw in the decider. Eli Gutman's side had earlier edged past FK Aktobe 3-2 on aggregate in the third qualifying round, losing the away leg 1-0, while in the previous stage they had defeated FK Željezničar 6-0, winning 1-0 in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

• In last season's UEFA Europa League, the Israeli champions lost three of their four away games in the competition proper, conceding nine goals in the process. They did, however, record a 3-0 victory at SK Rapid Wien.

Team ties
• Etey Shechter and Gil Vermouth were in the Israel side beaten 2-1 at home by Croatia in UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying on 9 October. Ivan Rakitić played 77 minutes for the visitors while Israel's Dani Bondarv was an unused substitute.

• Rakitić and Toto Tamuz came on as substitutes as Croatia beat Israel 1-0 in a UEFA EURO 2008 qualifier at the Maksimir Stadium in Zagreb on 13 October 2007. Ben Sahar and Dedi Ben-Dayan were unused replacements.

• Hans Sarpei was in the Ghana team that beat Nigeria 1-0 in the 2010 African Cup of Nations semi-final. Vincent Enyeama was in goal for the losing side.

• Raúl González helped Spain to a 2-0 FIFA World Cup qualifying victory against Israel in October 2000. Walid Badier featured for Israel.

• Felix Magath led FC Bayern München to a 5-1 home win against Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC in the 2004/05 UEFA Champions League group stage.