Early frontrunners spar over top spot

Werder Bremen were 3-2 winners at CD Nacional on Matchday 1 but they will face a tough challenge in their second UEFA Europa League Group L game against an Athletic Club Bilbao side fresh from a 3-0 victory over FK Austria Wien.

Previous meetings
• The two sides have never met. Bremen's home record against Spanish sides reads W4 D3 L2, while Athletic have lost both of their previous fixtures on German soil.

Match background
• Athletic breezed through their only UEFA Cup group stage campaign in 2004/05 before losing out to their present group rivals Austria Wien in the round of 32.

• Having competed in the last five UEFA Champions League group stages, Bremen never participated in a UEFA Cup group phase. However, they dropped into the latter competition as the third-placed side in their UEFA Champions League section on three occasions.

• Bremen have won all three of their European fixtures this season, scoring eleven goals in the process.

• Athletic have lost only one of their last five European away games, going down 1-0 at CFR 1907 Cluj in the 2005 UEFA Intertoto Cup second round.

Team facts
• Bremen are still under the command of Thomas Schaaf, who represented the club as a defender from 1978-95, stayed on as a coach and eventually took charge of the first team in 1999.

• A coach since his mid-20s, Athletic boss Joaquín Caparrós has been at the San Mamés helm since 2007, having worked his way up through the lower leagues to take charge of the likes of Villarreal CF, Sevilla FC – whom he led in the 2004/05 UEFA Cup group stage – and RC Deportivo La Coruña.

• Athletic are famous for their policy of only signing players who have come through their youth ranks, the academies of other Basque clubs or those who have been born in the Basque country.

• Bremen visit Austria Wien on Matchday 3, while Athletic host Nacional on the same night, 22 October.