Danish groundhog day awaits City

Manchester City FC will come up against their third Danish opponents this season when Aalborg BK return to the Rainy City, having drawn 2-2 at Manchester United FC in their most recent game in England.

• Prior to this campaign, City had never played a Superligaen side – meaning that this is their first game against AaB – but broke their Danish duck when they met FC Midtjylland in the second qualifying round. They traded 1-0 home defeats with Midtjylland before prevailing 4-2 on penalties.

• City then overcame FC København in the Round of 32, drawing 2-2 in Denmark and winning 2-1 at home. Thus their record against Danish sides reads P4 W2 D1 L1. Their home games have produced a win and a loss.

• 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 16 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.

• AaB will be the second non-English side to face both City and their local rivals Manchester United in competitive games in the same season. Juventus accounted for both Manchester clubs in the 1976/77 UEFA Cup, beating City 2-1 on aggregate in the first round and then overcoming United 3-1 overall in their next tie. AaB lost 3-0 at home to United in this season's UEFA Champions League group stage but earned a creditable 2-2 draw at Old Trafford.

• AaB's have never won against an English side, with their record reading P5 W0 D2 L3. Their games on English soil have ended in a draw and two defeats.

• Prior to this season, City manager Mark 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.

• AaB's Swedish coach Magnus Pehrsson has never come up against English opponents before. The former Djurgårdens IF FF midfielder was coach at GAIS Göteborg before agreeing to become AaB's third coach of the season. Pehrsson briefly played in England for Bradford City AFC, making one loan appearance in the 1996/97 season.

• Former Scottish international Bruce Rioch - who had replaced title-winning boss Erik Hamrén after his move to Rosenborg BK - was in charge at AaB for the start of the UEFA Champions League group stage, overseeing the 3-0 loss to United and quitting after a 6-3 defeat by Villarreal CF.

• He was replaced by his assistant Allan Kuhn on a temporary basis, with the caretaker overseeing an impressive 12-game unbeaten run which included the 2-2 draw at Old Trafford.

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

• City have lost just once in nine European games since their home defeat against Midtjylland, going down 3-1 at Real Racing Club in their final UEFA Cup group-stage game.

• The club's four UEFA Cup home games since the loss against Midtjylland ended in three wins and a draw.

• AaB are unbeaten in their last five European games - three under Kuhn and two under Pehrsson. They have scored at least twice in their last six matches, with United the last team to keep a clean sheet against them.

• AaB have lost only once in their last seven European away games, going down 6-3 at Villarreal in the UEFA Champions League group stage. That run of games included four wins and two draws.

• City defender Berti Glauber and AaB counterpart Michael Beauchamp were team-mates at German side 1. FC Nürnberg between 2006 and 2008.

• AaB midfielder Andreas Johansson spent two and a half years in the Premier League with Wigan Athletic FC between 2005 and 2007. He played two games against the Blues at the City of Manchester Stadium, a 1-0 FA Cup loss and a 1-0 Premier League win.

• Norwegian defender Kjetil Wæhler also played in England, representing Wimbledon FC from 1999 to 2002.

• AaB's Jamaican striker Luton Shelton scored the opening goal in Sheffield United FC's 2-1 2007/08 FA Cup fourth round win at home against City. His time with the Blades ran from January 2007 to July 2008.

• AaB are one of four sides left in the UEFA Cup who qualified for European competition as domestic league champions, the others being Galatasaray AŞ (Turkey), FC Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine) and FC Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia).

• The injured Craig Bellamy's brace against København saw him join team-mates Stephen Ireland, Shaun Wright-Phillips, Benjani Mwaruwari and Jô on two goals, though the latter is now on loan at Everton FC. Martin Petrov has also scored twice for City, but since both goals were in the qualifying rounds, they do not count towards his official total.

• Due's two goals against RC Deportivo La Coruña in the Round of 32 have seen him take over as AaB's top European scorer this season with three goals since the start of the UEFA Champions League group stage. He also scored twice in qualifying, but these goals do not count towards his total.

• City qualified for the UEFA Cup through the UEFA Fair Play system and reached the Round of 32 as Group A winners. They beat AaB's Danish rivals København to reach the Round of 16, drawing 2-2 in Copenhagen and winning 2-1 at home.

• Danish champions in 2007/08, AaB's third-place finish in Group E of the UEFA Champions League earned them a place in the UEFA Cup Round of 32. They made light work of Depor in coach Pehrsson's first games in charge, winning 3-0 at home and 3-1 in Spain.

• City's Micah Richards and Pablo Zabaleta are within a booking of a suspension, along with AaB's Jeppe Curth, Thomas Enevoldsen and Michael Jakobsen.

• The draw for the quarter-finals and semi-finals takes place in Nyon on 20 March, exactly two months before the final at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium in Istanbul on 20 May.