Sparta still in search of home spark

AC Sparta Praha will look to lift themselves off the foot of UEFA Europa League Group K with a win against CFR 1907 Cluj, and end a six-year wait for a home win on group-stage duty.

Previous meetings
• The two teams have never met, nor have CFR ever faced a Czech side. Sparta's only previous home game against Romanian opponents ended in a 5-1 defeat by FC Steaua Bucureşti in the first round of the 1988/89 European Champion Clubs' Cup.

Match background
• Sparta have lost just one of their last seven European home games, a 2-1 defeat by Panathinaikos FC in last season's UEFA Champions League third qualifying round.

• However, Sparta have not won in their last eleven UEFA club competition group-stage home games since beating S.S. Lazio 1-0 in the UEFA Champions League on 9 December 2003.

• Cluj have triumphed in just three of their eleven away games in UEFA club competition, with two of those successes coming in the UEFA Intertoto Cup. Their most recent away victory was a surprise 2-1 win at AS Roma in last season's UEFA Champions League.

Team facts
• Sparta coach Jozef Chovanec represented the club for most of his playing career and began his fourth spell in the dugout this year, while also serving as the club's chairman. He previously coached the Czech national team, leading them to UEFA EURO 2000™ without dropping a point in qualifying.

• CFR – whose intials stand for Căile Ferate Române, Romania's national railway – are coached by former SC Braga and FC Porto right-back António Conceição, more widely known as Toni. He led CFR to Romanian Cup success last season.

• Romania and the Czech Republic met in the 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, with the Czechs winning 1-0 in Prague on 9 October 2004 but losing 2-0 in the return fixture in Constanta on 3 September 2005.

• Romania and Czechoslovakia met 28 times between 1923 and 1993, with Czechoslovakia winning 16 games to Romania's five and seven ending in draws.

• The two sides meet again in Romania on 5 November for Matchday 4.