City and København battle for supremacy

With the scores level at 2-2 after the first leg in Denmark, Manchester City FC have it all to do again when they host FC København in the return leg of their UEFA Cup Round of 32 tie.

• The first leg was the two sides' first meeting in European club competition. City led twice through goals from Nedum Onuoha and Stephen Ireland, but their hosts struck back through Ailton Almeida and substitute Martin Vingaard.

• Having never previously met a Danish side, City are now up against their second Superligaen opponents of the season. In the UEFA Cup second qualifying round, they overcame FC Midtjylland on penalties after a 1-1 aggregate draw.

• Mark Hughes's charges surprisingly went down 1-0 at home in the first leg, before prevailing 1-0 away courtesy of an 89th-minute own goal from Daniel Benjamin Califf. The English outfit eventually won 4-2 on spot-kicks after extra time at the Messecentret in Herning.

• Midtjylland were the first side to beat City in a European fixture at the City of Manchester Stadium since the club took up residence in August 2003. It remains the club's only European home defeat in the 15 games since they lost 1-0 to eventual winners Chelsea FC in the second leg of the 1970/71 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup semi-final.

• København have now played five European games against English clubs, recording one win, two draws and two defeats.

• Their previous games in England ended in a 1-1 draw at Chelsea and a 3-0 defeat against Manchester United FC.

• Neither B1903 København nor Kjøbenhavns BK, who merged to form FC København in 1992, ever played a competitive game against an English club.

• Prior to this season, Hughes had only encountered Danish opposition four times in competitive games as a player and coach - all at international level. In the preliminary round of the 1988 UEFA European Championship, Wales won 1-0 at home and lost 1-0 away against Denmark. In the qualifiers for UEFA EURO 2000™, Wales won 2-1 away and lost 2-0 at home to the Danes.

• Hughes and København's Norwegian coach Ståle Solbakken both played in Norway's 3-1 friendly win against Wales in Cardiff on 9 March 1994. However, Hughes left the field for the hosts at half-time, while Solbakken came on as a 69th-minute substitute for the visitors.

• Solbakken can call on Premier League experience, having scored once in six league games for Wimbledon FC in the 1997/98 season. That was the midfielder's one and only campaign in England.

• Prior to the first leg, Solbakken's only two previous matches against English sides as a coach both came against Manchester United in Group F of the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League. The aforementioned 3-0 defeat at Old Trafford was followed by a 1-0 win in Copenhagen.

• As a player, Solbakken was involved in Norway's 0-0 friendly draw against England in Oslo on 11 October 1995.

• København left-back Niclas Jensen played for City between 2002 and 2003, helping them clinch promotion to the Premier League in the 2001/02 season and a ninth-placed finish the following campaign before moving on to BV Borussia Dortmund.

• Jensen subsequently returned to England for a second spell, turning out for Fulham FC between 2005 and 2007.

• København's well-travelled winger Jesper Grønkjær played for Chelsea from 2000 to 2004. In his final campaign at Stamford Bridge, the former Thisted IK, Aalborg BK, AFC Ajax, Birmingham City FC, Club Atlético de Madrid and VfB Stuttgart winger shared a dressing room with City's January signing Wayne Bridge.

• København's Brazilian striker José Junior turned out for English lower league sides Walsall FC, Derby County FC and Rotherham United FC between 2002 and 2005.

• City boast Danish talent in the form of goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, whose father Peter was a team-mate of Hughes's at Manchester United.

• København goalkeeper Jesper Christiansen and City defender Michael Ball were at Rangers FC together from 2001 to 2003. Christiansen was also a team-mate of City's Martin Petrov during a loan spell at VfL Wolfsburg in 2002/03, in which he made no appearances.

• København have lost just once in eleven UEFA Cup games this season, going down 3-1 at home to AS Saint-Etienne in the group stage. Their record in the 2008/09 competition reads W6 D4 L1.

• A 3-1 reverse at Real Racing Club in their final UEFA Cup group-stage game ended City's run of six UEFA Cup matches - five wins and a draw - without defeat since the loss against Midtjylland.

• København are unbeaten in five UEFA Cup away games this season, having recorded four wins and a draw on their travels.

• The aforementioned penalty shoot-out against Midtjylland in this season's UEFA Cup second qualifying round was City's first in UEFA competition.

• København were also victorious in their only shoot-out in UEFA competition. They beat Ferencvárosi TC 3-2 at home on spot-kicks in the 2003/04 UEFA Cup first round after a 2-2 aggregate draw. Neither of the clubs who merged to form København ever experienced a European shoot-out.

• City qualified for the UEFA Cup through the UEFA Fair Play system and reached the Round of 32 as Group A winners. København, third in the Danish Superligaen last season, finished third in Group G.

• Four players have scored twice for City since the first round of the UEFA Cup: Ireland, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Benjani Mwaruwari and Jô, though the latter is now on loan at Everton FC.

• København's leading UEFA Cup scorer is Cesar Santin, who has hit three goals since the first round of this season's competition.

• City's Micah Richards and Pablo Zabaleta are within a booking of a one-match ban, as are København's Thomas Kristensen, William Kvist and Zdeněk Pospěch.

• The winners of this tie will meet Aalborg BK or RC Deportivo La Coruña in the Round of 16 on 12 and 18/19 March, playing the first leg at home.

• Therefore, there could be an all-Danish clash in the next round if both København and AaB come through their ties.