Hapoel wary of Hamburg backlash

Beaten 3-0 at SK Rapid Wien on Matchday 1, Hamburger SV will look to revive their UEFA Europa League ambitions at home against Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC, who beat Celtic FC 2-1 in their opening Group C fixture.

Previous meetings
• Hamburg have never played an Israeli side before and this is also Hapoel's first competitive trip to Germany.

Match background
• Semi-finalists last season, Hamburg successfully made their way through three UEFA Cup group stages. Hapoel competed in two, progressing the first time in 2006/07 but missing the cut the following season.

• Hapoel have lost only one of their last six UEFA club competition away games, going down 2-1 at AS Saint-Etienne in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup first round (02/10/08).

Team facts
• Hamburg coach Bruno Labbadia is the only player to have scored more than 100 goals in both of the top two divisions in German football. A striker for FC Bayern München, Werder Bremen and Hamburg, among others, he won two caps for Germany and took over from Martin Jol at Hamburg this summer following a season at Bayer 04 Leverkusen.

• Hapoel coach Eli Gutman is nicknamed 'The German' because of his reputation as a disciplinarian. He made his name by winning the 1996/97 State Cup with Hapoel Beer-Sheva FC and then the Israeli title with Hapoel Haifa FC in 1998/99.

• Founded in the 1920s, Tel-Aviv's links to the Histadrut trade union and the hammer and sickle on their badge earned them a reputation as a club with left-wing leanings.

• Hamburg have the unique distinction of having played at the top level in German football continuously since the end of the first world war. They have never been relegated.

• Tel-Aviv's Serbian midfielder Nemanja Vučićević has experience of German football, having represented TSV 1860 München (2004-07) and 1. FC Köln (2007-09) prior to moving to Israel this summer.

• Hamburg visit Celtic on Matchday 3, while Tel-Aviv host Rapid Wien on the same night, 22 October.