Sevilla ready for another title tilt

Sevilla FC return to the UEFA Cup group stage as they look to win the competition for a third time following their successes of 2005/06 and 2006/07, with VfB Stuttgart hoping to improve their fortunes in Spain.

• This is Sevilla and Stuttgart's first meeting in UEFA club competition.

• This will be Sevilla's eighth match against a German side in UEFA club competition. They have won four, drawn two and lost just one of their previous seven games against Bundesliga sides. They have won three and drawn one of their home fixtures against German sides, and have yet to concede a goal against a Bundesliga team at the Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán Stadium.

• Stuttgart have already played eight games against Spanish sides, but have won just one of them, drawing two and losing five. The only victory came as they beat Real Sociedad de Fútbol 1-0 at home in the quarter-finals of the 1988/89 UEFA Cup. They have not won in seven games against Liga sides since, and have picked up just one draw from their four games on Spanish soil.

• Sevilla forward Ndri Romaric played alongside fellow Ivorian Arthur Boka, a defender at Stuttgart, at Belgian side KSK Beveren in the 2003/04 season.

• Sevilla finished fifth in the Spanish Liga last season to earn their chance to win a third UEFA Cup in four seasons, having won the 2005/06 and 2006/07 editions under Juande Ramos. They then overcame FC Salzburg 4-0 on aggregate in the first round.

• Stuttgart qualified for the UEFA Cup as one of the winners of this summer's final UEFA Intertoto Cup. They then beat Győri ETO FC of Hungary and Bulgaria's PFC Cherno More Varna to earn a place in the group stage.

• Sevilla coach Manuel Jiménez is in his second season at the club since succeeding two-time UEFA Cup winner Ramos. Capped 15 times by Spain, he was a left-back at Sevilla between 1983 and 1997 and continued to be loyal to the club after retiring, coaching their reserve team from 2000 to 2007.

• His opposite number at Stuttgart, Armin Veh, had a less sedentary career as a player and a coach, but has now been in charge of Stuttgart since 2006. In his first European games in charge of the club, they fell at the Round of 32 stage in the 2005/06 UEFA Cup to Middlesbrough FC – the team Sevilla would beat in the final of that season's competition.

• FK Partizan take on UC Sampdoria in Matchday 1's other Group C game. R. Standard de Liège are the only side in the section not in action on 23 October.