Win and hope is on FCK agenda at Club Brugge

FC København visit Club Brugge KV on matchday six with their hopes of qualification for the round of 16 still alive.

• Their 0-0 home draw with FC Porto on matchday five leaves the Danish title holders needing both a victory at Brugge and for Porto to drop points at home to Leicester City FC in the other Group G fixture. If the sides finished level on points, FCK's superior head-to-head record would take them through. 

• As for a Club Brugge side resigned to finishing bottom, their only incentive is to avoid the ignominy of finishing the group stage without a single point to their name.

• This match pits two players against their former teams, with Tom Høgli returning to his old club Club Brugge, and Claudemir welcoming his erstwhile colleagues from København.

Previous meetings
• FCK were 4-0 winners over Club Brugge on 27 September and have a strong head-to-head record against the Belgian club: W3 D2 L1.

• The Danish club have not lost in three previous visits to Bruges, starting with a 1-0 win in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup group stage, César Santin the scorer.

• Santin hit a 95th-minute winner when København won 3-2 on their next visit in the second leg of a 2012/13 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round tie (aggregate 3-2). Andreas Cornelius and Lior Refaelov are the only survivors of that second-leg contest in Bruges, although Claudemir was in the FCK starting XI and Høgli on the Brugge bench.

• Their third encounter in Belgium was a 1-1 draw in the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League group stage when Daniel Amartey's 89th-minute goal was cancelled out by Víctor Vázquez (90+2). Club Brugge won the return fixture 4-0 in Copenhagen through goals by Refaelov (three) and Ruud Vormer.

• The line-ups for that most recent meeting in Bruges on 23 October 2014 were:
Brugge: Ryan, De Fauw, Mechele, Duarte, De Bock, Silva (Izquierdo 79), Simons, Vázquez, Gedoz, Castillo (De Sutter 69), Sobota (Refaelov 56).
København: Andersen, Høgli, M Jørgensen, Antonsson, Amankwaa (Claudemir 81), Delaney, Amartey, Kačaniklić (Gíslason 64), Cornelius, N Jørgensen (De Ridder 68).

Match background

Club Brugge
• With GNK Dinamo Zagreb, the Belgian champions are one of only two teams in the competition with no points after five games.

• With five straight defeats in Group G, Michel Preud'homme's men have endured their club's worst losing streak in a European campaign.

• Brugge have lost five of their last six European home fixtures (W1 L5).

• In the 2015/16 UEFA Europa League, Club Brugge lost 3-1 at home to FC Midtjylland and earned a 1-1 draw away thanks to Jelle Vossen's strike.

• Club Brugge's overall home record against clubs from Denmark is W3 D2 L3.

København
• Ståle Solbakken's men retain an outside chance of repeating their 2010/11 UEFA Champions League performance when they reached the round of 16 for the only previous time.

• Including the qualifying rounds, FCK have lost only one of five European away games this season – the 1-0 defeat at group winners Leicester on matchday three.

• Their overall record in Belgium is W2 D1 L1.

Coach and player links
• With Norway's national team, Solbakken appeared in a 2-0 home friendly loss to Belgium in April 2000.

• Preud'homme was in the Belgium side beaten 3-1 by Denmark in Odense in a June 1988 friendly.

• Høgli made 76 league appearances for Club Brugge, scoring one goal, between 2011 and 2014, having joined from Norwegian club Tromsö IL.

• Claudemir made 131 Danish Super League appearances for København, scoring ten goals, between 2010 and 2014. He won two league titles and the 2012 Danish Cup, scoring the only goal in the final victory over AC Horsens at Parken Stadium.

• Erik Johansson spent the first half of last season in Belgium with KAA Gent, making nine league appearances.

• Other former team-mates:
Nicolai Boilesen & Stefano Denswil, Ricardo van Rhijn (AFC Ajax 2012–2015)

Match facts

Club Brugge
• Claudemir will incur a suspension with his next booking; Rudy Vormer is available for selection after serving a one-game ban on matchday five.

• Vossen has scored eight goals in his last six outings, four of them coming in the 6-1 home victory over KV Mechelen on 25 November.

• Refaelov made his return in that match as a second-half substitute, his first appearance since undergoing pubic bone surgery on 22 August.

• Brugge lost 3-2 at KAS Eupen in the Belgian Cup round of 16 on 29 November.

• Björn Engels is still recovering from the shoulder injury he sustained against Leicester on matchday one.

• Timmy Simons had not played since suffering a toe injury versus the same opponents on 22 November, but made his return for Saturday's 2-0 victory against KV Oostende.

København
• Mathias Jørgensen is a booking away from a ban.

• Solbakken's side have lost just one of their last 34 matches in all competitions, at Leicester on matchday three.

• Ján Greguš scored twice in the 4-0 home triumph over Viborg FF on 29 November, his first goals since 19 July.

• Cornelius (thigh) and Federico Santander (thigh) had not played since 18 and 10 November respectively before returning to action in Saturday's 1-0 defeat of Randers FC.

• Aboubakar Keita extended his contract until the end of 2020 on 25 November.

Chapecoense commemoration
Teams taking part in all of the matchday six UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League matches will observe a minute's silence to pay respect to the victims of last week's air disaster involving the Chapecoense team and accompanying delegation. The Brazilian club lost most of their players and coaching staff in the accident, which occurred in Colombia, where Chapecoense were due to play the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana final against Atlético Nacional.

"European football is united in expressing its deepest sympathy to Chapecoense, the Brazilian Football Confederation [CBF], CONMEBOL and the families of all the victims," said UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin. "This tragedy has shaken the world of football, and we would like to send our support to all of those affected by it."