Spartak banking on Laudrup's insider information

FC Spartak Moskva's Danish coach Michael Laudrup will look to make good use of his knowledge of Serie A football as his side look to end a miserable run of results against Italian clubs in their UEFA Cup Group D meeting with Udinese Calcio.

• Laudrup is familiar with the Italian game having spent six years in Serie A with Juventus and S.S. Lazio after leaving Brøndby IF in 1983. Following two seasons on loan at Lazio, he won the 1985/86 Scudetto with Juve playing alongside future UEFA President Michel Platini.

• Laudrup played four games against Udinese in his time at Lazio, winning one and losing three. Juve also played Udinese four times during Laudrup's spell at the club, winning all four games.

• Laudrup and Udinese coach Pasquale Marino were active at a similar time in Italian football, but former midfielder Marino never played at the same level as the Dane, spending most of his career in the lower leagues.

• Experienced Udinese reserve goalkeeper Emanuele Belardi played alongside two Spartak stars at Reggina Calcio. Belardi was under contract at Reggina from 1995 to 2005. Spartak's Czech defender Martin Jiránek played for the club from late 2000 to 2004, while Brazilian midfielder Mozart was at Reggina from 2000 to 2005.

• This is Spartak and Udinese's first meeting in UEFA club competition.

• Spartak have played 14 games against Serie A sides in Europe, winning two, drawing five and losing seven. In home matches against Italian sides they have won two, drawn two and lost three.

• They have not won in their last eight games, home and away, against Italian opposition, with their last victory a 2-0 home success against Atalanta BC in the first round of the 1989/90 UEFA Cup.

• Udinese have never come up against Russian opponents before.

• Spartak's Radoslav Kováč is within a booking of a one-match ban.

• Spartak's next draw in UEFA club competition will be their 50th.

• This is Spartak's first group-stage game this season. Udinese kicked off on Matchday 1 with a 2-0 win at home against Tottenham Hotspur FC, courtesy of an Antonio Di Natale penalty and a late Pepe strike.

• Tottenham are at home against NK Dinamo Zagreb in Matchday 2's other Group D game. NEC Nijmegen are the only team in the section not in action on Thursday.