Wounded Roma welcome CSKA

After a shock 2-0 defeat at FC Basel 1893, AS Roma will look to get back on track at home to PFC CSKA Sofia, who drew 1-1 against Fulham FC in their first UEFA Europa League Group E game.

Previous meetings
• Nils Liedholm's Roma recorded 1-0 home and away wins against Apostol Chachevski's CSKA in the teams' only previous meeting which came in the 1983/84 European Champion Clubs' Cup second round.

• The teams for their match in Rome on 2 November 1983 were:
Roma: Tancredi, Oddi, Bonetti, Righetti, Falcão, Nela, Conti (Chierico, 86), Cerezo, Graziani, Ancelotti, Vincenzi.
CSKA: Velinov, Bezinski, Dinko Dimitrov, Tintchev, Georgi Dimitrov, Zdravkov, Ionchev (Tanev, 81), Kerimov, Djevizov, Markov, Mladenov.

Match background
• Roma and CSKA only appeared in the UEFA Cup group stage once, both in 2005/06. While Roma progressed to the round of 16, CSKA missed the cut.

• None of CSKA's seven trips to Italy have produced a victory, the Army Men earning two draws and five defeats.

• Roma have won their last five UEFA club competition home games since losing 2-1 to CFR 1907 Cluj in their opening UEFA Champions League group stage fixture last season.

• CSKA have lost only one of their last seven European away games, going down 2-0 at Beşiktaş JK in the 2006/07 UEFA Cup first round (14/09/06).

Team facts
• Luciano Spalletti quit as Roma coach after starting the Serie A season with back-to-back defeats and Claudio Ranieri was installed as his successor. The 57-year-old started his playing career as a defender at Roma – his hometown club – but earned his reputation as a coach with ACF Fiorentina, Valencia CF, Chelsea FC and Juventus, among others.

• CSKA are coached by Luboslav Penev, who replaced his uncle – iconic former Bulgaria coach Dimitar Penev – in February. The 43-year-old former striker played alongside Hristo Stoichkov at CSKA in the late 1980s, and went on to shine in Spain, representing Valencia and winning a Spanish domestic double with Club Atlético de Madrid in 1995/96.

• Both coaches have strong links with Valencia. Ranieri coached the club in two spells (1997-99 and 2004-05) while Penev scored 101 league goals in 226 games for Los Ché between 1989 and 1995. Ranieri also coached Atlético (1999-00), Penev's club from 1995 to 1996.

• Playing in their 198th UEFA club competition game, CSKA's next goal will be their 300th in Europe.

• Roma visit Fulham on Matchday 3, while CSKA host Basel on the same night, 22 October.