Austria Wien aim to derail Bremen express

FK Austria Wien will look to slow Werder Bremen's UEFA Europa League progress as the Group L leaders come to Vienna in search of their first win – and indeed their first goal – on Austrian soil.

Previous meetings
• Austria Wien's only previous meeting with Bremen proved to be a bruising experience for Norbert Hof's side as they were beaten 5-0 by Otto Rehhagel's men in the away leg of a 1989/90 UEFA Cup second round tie before registering a 2-0 consolation win in the home return.

• The teams for that second meeting in Vienna on 31 October 1989 were:-
Austria Wien: Wohlfahrt, Aigner, Pfeffer, Degeorgi, Zsak, Sekerlioglu, Ogris (Percudani, 60), Pleva, Prosenik, Báez (Miļevskis, 73), Hasenhüttl.
Bremen: Reck, Bockenfeld (Wolter, 78), Otten, Bratseth, Sauer, Borowka, Schaaf, Votava, Riedle (Bode, 55), Eilts, Rufer.

• Bremen coach Thomas Schaaf played in the second leg of that tie but not the first.

Match background
• Austria Wien's ten home games against German clubs have left them with the record W5 D4 L1. Bremen were the last Bundesliga side they beat in Vienna.

• Bremen's only other game in Austria ended in a 4-0 UEFA Intertoto Cup loss at SK Austria Kärnten in 2003. Thus they have never won or scored on Austrian soil.

• A 1-1 draw against CD Nacional on Matchday 2 ended a run of five straight home wins in Europe for Austria Wien, unbeaten in six home matches since a 1-0 UEFA Cup group stage loss to Panionios GSS on 6 December 2007.

• Aside from the 2008/09 UEFA Cup final – in which they were technically the away team – Bremen are unbeaten in their last nine away games in UEFA club competition.

• Their last defeat was a 2-0 UEFA Cup round of 16 loss at Rangers FC on 6 March 2008.

Team facts
• Austria Wien boss Karl Daxbacher won six caps as a midfielder for his country in a playing career during which he spent 14 years at the club he now serves as coach. He returned to take the reins in 2008, following a spell in charge at LASK Linz.

• As a player, Daxbacher scored the first of his three goals in UEFA club competition against a German side. The 23rd-minute strike turned out to be the winner as Austria Wien beat VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach 1-0 in a European Champion Clubs' Cup first round tie on 15 September 1976. It was also the club's first goal against a German team.

• Daxbacher's first games in European competition as a coach also saw him face German opposition, as his SC Krems side lost 5-0 at FC Carl Zeiss Jena, before a 1-0 win at home in the 1988/89 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.

• Bremen are still under the command of 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.

• Schaaf won two Bundesliga titles, two German Cups and the 1991/92 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup as a Bremen player. As a coach he has won one league title, three German Cups and led his side to last season's UEFA Cup final, only to lose out to FC Shakhtar Donetsk.

• Austria Wien's Senegalese forward Mamadou Diabang and Bremen goalkeeper Christian Vander were team-mates at VfL Bochum 1848 from 2003 to 2006.

• Bremen boast Austrian talent in the form of international defender Sebastian Prödl, who played alongside Austria Wien midfielder Thomas Krammer at SK Sturm Graz from 2006-08.

• The next goal Bremen concede will be the 250th they have allowed in UEFA club competition. This is their 195th continental fixture.

• Austria Wien's Czech striker Tomáš Jun has been ruled out until 2010 after damaging cruciate ligaments.

• The two sides meet again in Bremen on Matchday 4, 5 November.