Salzburg seek Lech pick-me-up

FC Salzburg will look to end their UEFA Europa League Group A campaign on a positive note, and improve on some worrying goalscoring statistics, when they host Polish champions KKS Lech Poznań, who could yet finish top of the section.

• Salzburg are fated to finish bottom of the section regardless of the result on Matchday 6. Lech, who lie second, could finish top if they win and Manchester City FC lose at Juventus, while a significant victory in Austria coupled with a draw in Turin might also see them overtake Roberto Mancini's men.

Previous meetings
• Second-half goals from Manuel Arboleda and Sławomir Peszko earned Lech a 2-0 victory when the sides met for the first time on Matchday 2, in what was Salzburg's first competitive game against a Polish side.

• Lech had previously eliminated FK Austria Wien in the first round of the 2008/09 UEFA Cup, losing 2-1 in Vienna but winning 4-2 at home.

Match background
• Following Matchday 5's 3-0 loss in Manchester, Salzburg are without a win in seven European games – three draws and four defeats – since a 4-1 victory against AC Omonia in this season's UEFA Champions League third qualifying round.

• Lech have lost only once in Group A, with goalkeeper Krzysztof Kotorowski saying: "When the draw was made nobody gave us a prayer. Everyone was saying that if we got three points it would be a miracle, but now we have eight points and we have qualified. This was no ordinary group, it was as strong as a Champions League group."

Team facts
• Salzburg are the lowest scorers in the group stage with just one goal from their first five fixtures.

• This will be Salzburg's 50th appearance in the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Cup with their previous 49 ending W21 D6 L22.

• Capped 18 times by the Netherlands, Huub Stevens' biggest achievements as a coach include winning the 1996/97 UEFA Cup and two German Cups with FC Schalke 04. He collected the Austrian title last season in his first campaign as Salzburg boss.

• Stevens played his first game in UEFA club competition in Poland, coming on for the last 11 minutes of PSV's 3-1 European Champion Clubs' Cup win at Ruch Chorzów on 22 October 1975. He won two further games against RTS Widzew Łódź as a PSV player.

• He will have less fond memories of his first encounters with a Polish side as a coach. Stevens' Hertha BSC Berlin side were eliminated by Groclin Grodzisk Wielkopolski in the 2003/04 UEFA Cup first round, drawing 0-0 at home and losing 1-0 in Poland.

• Lech announced the departure of coach Jacek Zieliński on the eve of their Matchday 4 game against City, with former FC Barcelona midfielder José Maria Bakero named as his replacement. The 47-year-old, once a player and a coach at Real Sociedad de Fútbol, saved KSP Polonia Warszawa from relegation last season. Zieliński led Lech to their first Polish title in 17 years in 2009/10.