Wolfsburg in sight of first objective

VfL Wolfsburg will look to join Group E rivals AC Milan in qualifying for the Round of 32 as Portsmouth FC travel to Germany, still smarting after allowing a two-goal lead slip against Carlo Ancelotti's side on Matchday 3.

• Wolfsburg struck deep into added time to earn a 3-2 win at SC Braga last time out, and with six points from two games, can confirm their place in the next stage of the competition with a point against Portsmouth prior to visiting Milan on Matchday 5.

• The German side can even lose against Portsmouth and go through provided SC Heerenveen are not defeated themselves at home by Braga in Thursday's other Group E game.

• Portsmouth have just one point from their two games to date, having let a 2-0 lead slip in the last six minutes of their home game with Milan on 27 November. If they lose or draw at Wolfsburg while Braga win at Heerenveen, it will be all over for the English side.

• Wolfsburg and Portsmouth have never played each other in UEFA club competition.

• Wolfsburg have never met a Premier League outfit while Portsmouth have not come across German opponents before.

• Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath has seen action against English sides as a player and a coach. As boss of VfB Stuttgart and FC Bayern München he oversaw eight games against teams from England, winning three, drawing one and losing four. All three victories, and one of the defeats, came on German soil.

• As a midfielder, Magath was part of the West Germany side defeated 3-0 by England in a 1985 friendly. At club level, his Hamburger SV team came up against English opposition five times, ending up on the winning side once, but losing twice and earning a draw on the other two occasions.

• Crucially, those two defeats came in finals. Magath was in the Hamburg side that lost 1-0 to Nottingham Forest FC in the 1979/80 European Champion Clubs' Cup final and 7-1 on aggregate against Liverpool FC in the 1977 UEFA Super Cup.

• Portsmouth coach Tony Adams, who stepped up to replace Harry Redknapp when the latter moved to Tottenham Hotspur FC after Matchday 1, played five games against German opposition during his long spell as a central defender at Arsenal FC, winning two, drawing one and losing two.

• Adams' three games in Germany with Arsenal ended in a win and two defeats.

• Adams also played in three games against the German national team without winning, with his side earning a draw and two defeats.

• The only one of those games to be played on German soil was a 3-1 win for the home side in Dusseldorf.

• Wolfsburg are unbeaten in their last five European home games.

• Portsmouth, playing in their first season in UEFA club competition, are yet to win a European away game.

• Wolfsburg's Makoto Hasebe is within a booking of a one-match ban.

• The draw for the UEFA Cup Round of 32 and Round of 16 will be held at UEFA Headquarters in Nyon on Friday 19 December at 13.00CET. Group winners will be paired with third-placed sides from other UEFA Cup sections, while second-placed finishers will be drawn against one of the eight clubs who finished third in the UEFA Champions League groups. The UEFA Cup group winners and runners-up will play the second leg at home. Teams from the same association cannot be drawn against each other.