Hamburg have NEC on the chopping block

Hamburger SV have a right to feel that they have one foot in the Round of 16 as they go into their UEFA Cup decider against NEC Nijmegen holding a 3-0 lead from the first leg.

• Piotr Trochowski, Alex Silva and Ivica Olić all scored as Martin Jol made a stylish return to his home country.

• The first leg was Hamburg's second taste of Dutch opposition this season. The Bundesliga high-fliers lost 1-0 at home to UEFA Cup Group F rivals AFC Ajax in coach Jol's first European game against a team from his native Netherlands.

• Jol left the Netherlands in June 2004 to become assistant coach at Tottenham Hotspur FC under Jacques Santini. However, he was promoted to the top job four months later and remained at the helm until October 2007. He was hired by Hamburg in May 2008.

• The first leg was the two sides' first meeting in European club competition.

• NEC have now played a total of 15 matches in UEFA club competition.

• This will be Hamburg's eleventh game against Dutch opponents. Their record from their first ten matches with Eredivisie outfits reads W4 D1 L5.

• The first leg win ended a run of three successive defeats against Dutch sides for Hamburg since a 2-0 second-leg success over Sparta Rotterdam in the first round of the 1985/86 UEFA Cup.

• Of five European home games against Dutch sides, Hamburg have drawn two and lost three. They have gone down in their last two home fixtures against Eredivisie opposition.

• NEC coach Mario Been has mixed memories of facing Bundesliga opposition. He was in midfield for Feyenoord when they lost 7-1 on aggregate to VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach in the second round of the 1986/87 UEFA Cup, but scored for the Rotterdam side in a 2-2 draw against eventual winners Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the following season's competition.

• Been has fonder memories of meetings with Jol during their playing days. He scored a hat-trick in Feyenoord's 4-0 win against Jol's ADO Den Haag in March 1987 and found the net again when his side beat the same opponents – with Jol once more in defence – in April 1988.

• Hamburg currently boast Dutch talent in the form of Joris Mathijsen and Romeo Castelen.

• Mathijsen played for Willem II and AZ Alkmaar before joining Hamburg in August 2006.

• Castelen played alongside NEC defender Youssef El-Akchaoui at Den Haag in 2003/04 prior to his switch to Feyenoord. During his time at De Kuip, the winger shared a dressing room with NEC's Hungarian goalkeeper Gábor Babos (2004 to 2006) as well as defenders Mark Otten (2004/05) and Lorenzo Davids (2006/07). He joined Hamburg in July 2007.

• Dutch defender El-Akchaoui is the only current NEC player with German experience, having represented 1. FC Union Berlin in the 2. Bundesliga in the 2002/03 season.

• This match will be Hamburg's 100th UEFA Cup fixture.

• NEC's 2-1 victory at FC Spartak Moskva in their final group-stage game ended a run of five European away games without a win since a 1-0 success at SK Brann on 29 September 1983. That was the club's first away match in UEFA club competition.

• Their 1-0 group-stage defeat by Ajax remains Hamburg's only loss in eleven European home matches since FC Porto came away with a 3-1 win in Group G of the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League.

• Hamburg's only UEFA club competition penalty shoot-out to date ended in defeat by NEC's fellow Dutch outfit Sparta. The previously mentioned 2-0 second-leg win in Germany in the 1985/86 UEFA Cup levelled the tie 2-2 on aggregate, with the Rotterdam club prevailing 4-3 on spot-kicks.

• NEC have never been involved in a penalty shoot-out in UEFA club competition.

• NEC finished eighth in the Dutch Eredivisie last season. They won a UEFA Cup place via the domestic end-of-season play-offs and progressed to the Round of 32 thanks to a third-place finish in Group D. Hamburg, fourth in the Bundesliga in 2007/08, topped Group F.

• Olić and Mladen Petrić have been Hamburg's most prolific European scorers this season, with five goals each. NEC's top marksman has been Jhon van Beukering, who has found the net three times since the first round.

• Hamburg have no disciplinary concerns ahead of the home leg, but NEC's Lorenzo Davids, Arkadiusz Radomski and Bas Sibum are within a booking of a one-match ban.

• The victors will face FC Girondins de Bordeaux or Galatasaray AŞ in the Round of 16 on 12 and 18/19 March, and will play the first leg at home.