Only way is up for Nacional

CD Nacional need to avenge their 2-1 loss at Athletic Club Bilbao last time out to open up Group L, with the Portuguese side and FK Austria Wien at risk of being eliminated from the UEFA Europa League if results go against them on Matchday 4.

Previous meetings
• The clubs met for the first time on Matchday 3, when the Spanish club's 2-1 victory tightened their grip on second place: a point behind Werder Bremen and respectively four and five points clear of Austria Wien and Nacional.

• Nacional's only previous home game against a Spanish side ended in a 2-1 loss to Sevilla FC (30 September 2005). Athletic's Aitor Ocio was an unused substitute for Sevilla in that match in Funchal.

• Athletic earned a win (2-1 against FC Porto, 20 September 1956) and a defeat (3-0 against Sporting Clube de Portugal, 11 December 1985) in their two previous games in Portugal.

Match background
• Nacional have won only one of their four European home games to date, beating FC Zenit St. Petersburg 4-3 in this season's UEFA Europa League play-offs. They have lost all of their other UEFA club competition games in Funchal.

Team facts
• Manuel Machado is in his second stint at the Nacional helm. He started his coaching career in his native Guimaraes as a youth trainer at Vitória SC, eventually leading the senior team there as well as having spells at A. Académica de Coimbra and SC Braga.

• 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 – whom he led in the 2004/05 UEFA Cup group stage – and RC Deportivo La Coruña.

• From the Atlantic island of Madeira, Nacional's most significant recent claim to fame has been that Funchal-born Cristiano Ronaldo spent two years with the club before joining Sporting's Alcochete academy at the age of 12 in 1997.

• 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.

• This will be Nacional's tenth game in UEFA club competition. They are the least experienced side in the UEFA Europa League group stage.

• Athletic's Iker Muniain became the youngest scorer in Spanish league history when he registered in his side's 2-2 draw against Real Valladolid CF on 4 October at the age of 16 years and 289 days.

• Athletic's Fernando Llorente goes into the game as the joint-highest scorer in the group stage, having scored four goals along with Werder Bremen's Claudio Pizarro.

• Nacional committed more fouls in the first three group-stage games than any other side – 59.

• Athletic visit Austria Wien on Matchday 5, with Nacional travelling to Bremen on the same day, 3 December.