Old sparring partners rejoin battle at BayArena

Bayer 04 Leverkusen boss Jupp Heynckes will look to settle an old score with Rosenborg BK when he takes on Nils Arne Eggen's team in their opening UEFA Europa League Group B fixture.

Previous meetings
• The sides are meeting for the first time in UEFA club competition, and this is Leverkusen's first game against a Norwegian outfit.

• Rosenborg have played eight games against Bundesliga opponents in the UEFA Champions League group stage, with the record W1 D3 L4 (W1 D0 L3 away). That sole victory was a 3-0 success at BV Borussia Dortmund on their first UEFA trip to Germany on 19 October 1999. It was also the only time they ever kept a clean sheet against a German side.

Match background
• Leverkusen have won their last three UEFA club competition games since a 4-1 home loss to FC Zenit St. Petersburg in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup quarter-finals. That defeat breaks a run of six straight wins in European BayArena fixtures.

• Rosenborg have scored just once in their last four European away games, though that sole strike did earn them a 1-0 win at AIK Solna in this season's UEFA Champions League third qualifying round.

Team facts
• A fine striker in his day, Leverkusen coach Heynckes won the 1972 UEFA European Championship and 1974 FIFA World Cup with West Germany, and also claimed four domestic titles, a German Cup and the 1974/75 UEFA Cup with VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach. As a coach, he also won two league titles with FC Bayern München. He took charge at Leverkusen in June 2009.

• Heynckes' Real Madrid CF played Rosenborg in the group stage on the way to winning the 1997/98 UEFA Champions League. Having won 4-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid lost 2-0 in Trondheim. It was their only defeat in Europe that season.

• Eggen is a legend at Rosenborg, having played for the club in the 1960s and helped them win 11 Norwegian titles in succession as a coach from 1992 to 2002, though he took time off during the 1998 campaign.

• Eggen is helping out as caretaker manager following Erik Hamrén's move to take charge of Sweden. Stabæk Fotball coach Jan Jönsson will assume control on 1 January 2011.

• Midfielder Michael Ballack made his European return for Leverkusen in the 3-0 play-off home win against SC Tavriya Simferopol on 19 August. That was his first game in the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League since playing for Leverkusen in the third round of the 1999/2000 edition, where his side were eliminated on away goals by Udinese Calcio. The former FC Bayern München and Chelsea FC player has scored in all three of his appearances in the competition.