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Group K pair need to go for broke

FC København will look to surge back into Group K contention with a win against the section's bottom side CFR 1907 Cluj, but a draw at the Parken Stadium could be a disastrous result for both sides.

Group K pair need to go for broke
Group K pair need to go for broke ©UEFA.com

FC København will look to surge back into Group K contention with a win against the section's bottom side CFR 1907 Cluj, but a draw at the Parken Stadium could be a disastrous result for both sides.

• With Italian Andrea Mandorlini freshly installed as their new coach, CFR will be eliminated if they lose, but any winner in Copenhagen will be sure of having something to play for on Matchday 6. A draw could trigger a doomsday scenario for both clubs, though, who would be eliminated if AC Sparta Praha win in the night's other game at PSV Eindhoven.

Previous meetings
• CFR beat København 2-0 in Romania on Matchday 1 in a match which represented their first experience of Danish opposition and their guests' first competitive fixture against a Romanian side.

Match background
• København are unbeaten in their last seven European encounters at the Parken Stadium since a 3-1 defeat by AS Saint-Etienne in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup group stage, on 23 October 2008.

• CFR have not won away from home in Europe in five outings since stunning AS Roma with a 2-1 victory in the first game of their 2008/09 UEFA Champions League group-stage campaign.

Team facts
• København are led by former Norwegian international Ståle Solbakken, who represented the club as a midfielder at the end of a career which also took in spells at Hamarkameratene, Lillestrøm SK, Wimbledon FC and Aalborg BK. He won two Danish titles as a player and last season won his third since becoming a coach in 2006, making five in total.

• Solbakken's playing career came to an abrupt end at København when he suffered a heart attack in training in March 2001. Despite being pronounced clinically dead, he recovered and now has a pacemaker fitted.

• Solbakken's only experience of Romanian opposition came in a 1998 friendly game, which Norway drew 0-0 at home against Romania.

• CFR – the intials stand for Căile Ferate Române, Romania's national railway – changed their coach on 15 November. António Conceição, who was appointed in April and led CFR to Romanian Cup success last season, was replaced by former FC Internazionale Milano player Mandorlini.

• The 49-year-old had been coaching in Italy since 1993, most notably guiding Atalanta BC to promotion to Serie A in 2003/04. This will be Mandorlini's first experience in the dugout in UEFA club competition; as a player, he did not come up against Danish opposition.

• København were founded in 1992 following a merger between Kjøbenhavns BK and B1903 København. KB met Romanian opposition in the second round of the 1981/82 European Champion Clubs' Cup, winning 1-0 at home against FC Universitatea Craiova but losing 4-1 away.

• CFR host PSV on Matchday 6, with København visiting Sparta on the same day, 16 December.