Steaua seek Halmstad success

Top meets bottom on Matchday 4 in UEFA Cup Group C match with unbeaten leaders FC Steaua Bucuresti playing host to Halmstads BK, who have lost their first three matches. Steaua have not conceded a goal in their two games to date, while the Halmstad defence has been breached nine times, the highest total in the group stage.

• Both clubs have already met RC Lens earlier in the group. The Romanian team recorded an impressive 4-0 win against Lens in the first round of matches to make it two wins from two home games in this season's UEFA Cup having defeated Vålerenga IF 3-1 in the first leg. Halmstad's only other away game in the section, meanwhile, ended in a 5-0 loss at Lens while their home games with Hertha BSC Berlin and UC Sampdoria ended in 1-0 and 3-1 defeats, respectively. Steaua have also played the Italian outfit, grinding out a goalless draw in Genoa on Matchday 2.

• Halmstad travel to Bucharest to meet Romanian opposition for the first time in UEFA competition, while Steaua have encountered a side from Sweden on one previous occasion in a European tie.

• In the 1988/89 European Champion Clubs' Cup quarter-finals, Steaua played IFK Göteborg, and returned from Sweden after the first leg having suffered a 1-0 loss. However, the return leg in Romania proved to be a one-way affair.

• A hat-trick from Romanian forward Marius Lacatus and further goals from fellow internationals Ilie Dumitrescu and Gavril Balint took Steaua to a resounding 5-1 home win to pave the way for a 5-2 aggregate success.

• Having defeated Göteborg, Steaua went though to the final with a win in the semi-final against Galatasaray SK. But the Romanian club found AC Milan too strong in the competition's showpiece at the Camp Nou in Barcelona and slipped to a 4-0 defeat.