Tight situation for AEK and Anderlecht
Friday, October 22, 2010
Article summary
RSC Anderlecht got off the mark with their Matchday 3 defeat of AEK Athens FC and as they meet again in Greece, they are among three teams in Group G on three points.
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Beaten 3-0 in Brussels on Matchday 3, AEK Athens FC will look to reignite their battle for a UEFA Europa League round of 32 place with a Group G win at home against RSC Anderlecht.
Previous meetings
• The teams met for a third time on Matchday 3.
• They previously came face to face in the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League group stage, with Frank Vercauteren's Anderlecht earning a 1-1 draw in Greece before Lorenzo Serra Ferrer's AEK secured a 2-2 tie in Brussels.
• The teams for their meeting in Athens on 26 September 2006 were:
AEK: Sorrentino, Moras, Cirillo, Kiriakidis, Lagos, Udeze, Georgeas*, Kapetanos (Liberopoulos*, 46), Hetemaj (Delibašić, 70), Tözsér, Júlio César (Lakis, 55).
Anderlecht: Zítka, Deschacht*, Biglia*, Van Damme, Tchite, Leiva, Boussoufa* (Legear*, 81), Goor, Pareja, Frutos, Vanden Borre.
*eligible to play in this game
• AEK are yet to win in seven games against Belgian sides, with their record as follows: W0 D5 L2 (W0 D3 L0 at home). Anderlecht's record in nine games against Greek sides reads W3 D4 L2 (W0 D2 L2 in Greece).
Match background
• Anderlecht were without a win in four European games before defeating AEK.
Team facts
• AEK coach Dušan Bajević resigned before Matchday 2 in the wake of a 3-1 loss at promoted Olympiacos Volou FC, bringing to an end his third spell as the club's coach.
• Former Sevilla FC coach Manolo Jiménez was named as his replacement on 8 October. Capped 15 times by Spain, he represented Sevilla as a left-back from 1984 to 1997, returning as youth coach after retiring and then taking charge of the first team from October 2007 until his dismissal in March 2010.
• Jiménez visited Belgium as Sevilla coach in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup group stage, with his side losing 1-0 at R. Standard de Liège.
• A striker, largely for Diegem Sport, Ariël Jacobs worked with Belgium's youth teams before assisting Guy Thys as national team boss from 1986 to 1989. He won the Belgian Cup with RAA Louviéroise in 2003 and took sole command at Anderlecht in November 2007, following a spell as Vercauteren's assistant. He won his first league title with the club in 2009/10.
• AEK forward Rafik Djebbour played in Belgium with Louviéroise in the 2004/05 season, alongside goalkeeper Silvio Proto, who joined Anderlecht in the summer of 2005.
