Hajduk and AEK look to keep the dream alive
Saturday, November 6, 2010
Article summary
Time is running out for Group G back markers HNK Hajduk Split and AEK Athens FC, with both sides in danger of UEFA Europa League elimination as they reconvene in Croatia.
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Time is running out for Group G back markers HNK Hajduk Split and AEK Athens FC, with both sides in danger of UEFA Europa League elimination as they reconvene in Croatia.
• No scenario will see either side qualify on Matchday 5. Either team would be eliminated if they lose and RSC Anderlecht win at FC Zenit St Petersburg. A draw would keep both sides in the running for a last-32 place.
Previous meetings
• Goals from Rafik Djebbour, Nikos Liberopoulos and Nacho Scocco helped AEK win 3-1 when the sides met for the first time on Matchday 1, with Djebbour also missing a penalty for the home side.
• Hajduk's record in five games against Greek clubs reads W1 D2 L2 (W1 D1 L0 at home).
• AEK's five games against Croatian sides ended W4 D0 L1 (W1 D0 L1 in Croatia).
Match background
• A 3-2 defeat by Zenit on Matchday 4 ended Hajduk's three-game winning streak at home in Europe.
• AEK have not won in three European games since their Matchday 1 victory against Hajduk. They have won just once in their last nine European away games – 1-0 at Dundee United FC in this season's UEFA Europa League play-offs – and only one of their 21 UEFA club competition group stage away games has ended in victory; they beat FK Mladá Boleslav 1-0 in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup group stage.
Team facts
• Hajduk dismissed coach Stanko Poklepović on 28 October. Youth coach Goran Vučević – formerly a midfielder with the club – has come in as a temporary replacement while the Split side seek a new boss, but insisted: "I will be going back to the youth teams."
• 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 boss.
• 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 this year.
