Greens look to short circuit Dinamo charge

Panathinaikos FC will look to avoid a Group F upset when they host FC Dinamo 1948 Bucureşti, needing to avoid defeat to be certain of a place in the UEFA Europa League round of 32.

• Dinamo trail Panathinaikos by three points, but would steal second place in the section if they can earn a more impressive away win than the one the Greens picked up in Bucharest with a late goal on Matchday 2.

Previous meetings
• Panathinaikos secured their first win in three attempts against Dinamo on Matchday 2, prevailing 1-0 in Bucharest.

• Mircea Lucescu's Dinamo crushed Panathinaikos in a 1989/90 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup second-round tie, winning 2-0 in Athens and then 6-1 in Bucharest, the latter result prompting coach Gunder Bengtsson's dismissal.

• The teams for the game in Athens on 18 October 1989 were:
Panathinaikos: Sarganis, Hatziathanassiou, Samaras, Kalantzis, Kalitzakis, Mavridis, Saravakos, Antoniou, Dimopoulos, Vlachos (Georgakopoulos, 76), Georgamlis (Kolev, 81).
Dinamo: Stelea, Mihăescu, Klein, Rednic, Lupescu (Timofte, 72), Andone, Vaiscovici, Sabău, Răducioiu (Zamfir, 83), Mateuţ, Lupu.

• Dănuţ Lupu, who played for Dinamo in that game, would go on to spend the 1990/91 season at Panathinaikos.

Match background
• Dinamo have won both of their previous games in Greece, beating Skoda Xanthi FC 4-3 in a September 2006 UEFA Cup game in addition to winning against Panathinaikos in Athens.

• Panathinaikos's home record in five games against Romanian clubs reads W2 D1 L2.

• Dinamo competed in two UEFA Cup group-stage campaigns, missing the cut in 2005/06 but making it to the round of 32 the following season.

• Panathinaikos took part in the UEFA Cup group stage in 2006/07 and 2007/08, reaching the round of 32 both times.

• The Greens' home form in Europe has been mixed this season – they have earned two wins but lost the other two games.

• Dinamo have won two out of three fixtures on their travels this season, beating FC Slovan Liberec and SK Sturm Graz but losing 4-1 at Galatasaray AŞ.

Team facts
• On 8 December Panathinaikos parted ways with Dutch coach Henk ten Cate, replacing him with Nikolaos Nioplias, who spent three years at the club as a player. Nioplias has enjoyed a successful coaching career leading Greece age-group sides and arrives from the U21 helm. He will be assisted by Greens legend Krzystoph Warzycha, who is Panathinaikos's all-time leading scorer.

• Dinamo caretaker coach Ion Marin – who stepped up to replace Dario Bonetti when the Italian was dismissed before Matchday 3 after just three months in charge – left to take a job in Saudi Arabia the day after the 4-1 defeat by Galatasaray on 22 October.

• Cornel Ţălnar, a 52-year-old who spent eight successful years at the club (1977-1985) as a player, was appointed for a third spell as interim coach after previous short stints in 1996-97 and 2007-08.

• Panathinaikos players were caught offside 32 times over the first five matchdays, more times than any other team. Djibril Cissé was flagged offside 14 times, more than any other player in the competition.