København strive to claim second place in Group D

FC København were unable to confirm their place in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 in their last Group D fixture but the Danish champions go into their final game, at home to Panathinaikos FC, knowing a win will take them through.

• Ståle Solbakken's side held a four-point advantage over FC Rubin Kazan ahead of their trip to Russia on Matchday 5, but a 1-0 defeat ensured the issue of who joins section winners FC Barcelona in the knockout stages would go to the wire.

• FCK will definitely progress with a second win against Panathinaikos, whom they beat 2-0 on Matchday 2. Should they fail to collect three points, Rubin would overtake them with success at Barcelona; if FCK lose and Rubin draw, the Russian side would progress thanks to what would be a superior goal difference.

Previous meetings
• København's Matchday 2 win in Athens began with a goal from Dame N'Doye, who spent the 2007/08 season with the Greek champions, Martin Vingaard adding a second with a free-kick. Panathinaikos were reduced to ten men early in the second half when captain Gilberto Silva received a second yellow card.

• N'Doye was also on target when the teams met on 8 November 2008 in Copenhagen – this time scoring the only goal of the game for the Greek team. FCK substitute Hjalte Nørregaard also missed a penalty in that UEFA Cup group match.

• The lineups were:
København: Christiansen, Jensen, Hangeland, Antonsson, Würtz (Nørregaard 56), Grønkjær, Hutchinson, Kvist, Sionko (Silberbauer 56), Nordstrand, Allbäck.
Panathinaikos: Galinović, Enakarhire, Goumas, Fyssas, Vintra, Marcelo, Karagounis (Šerić 87), Tziolis, Ivanschitz (Dimoutsos 67), Papadopoulos (Salpigidis 76), N'Doye.

• Panathinaikos met Aalborg BK in the group stage of the 1995/96 UEFA Champions League, losing 2-1 in Denmark and winning 2-0 at home.

Match background
• København won their first two games, beating Rubin 1-0 before the victory in Athens which put them on top of the group. Barcelona then took over at the top after their Matchday 3 contest at the Camp Nou finished 2-0 in favour of the Spanish team, who were then held 1-1 in Denmark.

• When they were last involved in the competition, in 2006/07, København collected all their points at home, drawing 0-0 with SL Benfica before beating Manchester United FC 1-0 and Celtic FC 3-1. They finished bottom of Group F with seven points.

• Panathinaikos have secured only two points from their first five fixtures and will definitely finish fourth regardless of the result in Denmark. They began with a 5-1 defeat at Barcelona and, after the home defeat by these opponents, shared two goalless draws with Rubin. Last time out the Greek titleholders lost 3-0 at home to Barcelona.

• The defeat in Spain was Panathinaikos' only reverse in their last five away games in the UEFA Champions League proper. They ended their group campaign two years ago with successive wins on their travels and then gained a draw at Villarreal CF in the last 16. They lost both away ties in the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League qualifiers but won three of their five away matches in the UEFA Europa League, losing the other two.

Team ties
• Mikael Antonsson signed for Panathinaikos in January 2006, moving to FCK in summer 2007 after making only seven league appearances.

• N'Doye joined the Greek side in the summer of 2007 and stayed in Athens until 2008, when he went on loan to OFI Crete FC. In January 2009 he signed for FCK.

• When København met Benfica in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round in August 2007, Kostas Katsouranis scored the only goal of the second leg to seal the Portuguese side's 3-1 aggregate triumph.

• Hans Backe guided FCK to three Superligaen titles between 2001 and 2005 before a short spell in charge of Panathinaikos, where he was dismissed after just three months.