Twente on course for Steaua success

FC Twente are 1-0 up as they take on FC Steaua Bucureşti in the second leg of their UEFA Europa League tie with the winners to meet FC Viktoria Plzeň or FC Schalke 04 in the round of 16.

• Ola John's splendid lob (53) in the first leg  earned Steve McClaren's team a slender advantage to take back to Enschede.

Previous meetings
• The sides met in the group stage of the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League, Mihai Stoichiţă's Steaua holding McClaren's Twente 0-0 in Enschede and 1-1 in Bucharest.

• The teams for the game in Enschede on 1 October 2009 were:
Twente: Boschker, Kuiper, Wisgerhof, Brama, Stam, Nkufo, Perez (Janssen 62), Stoch (Vujičević 85), Tioté (Parker 62), Douglas, Ruiz.
Steaua: Zapata, Rada, Szekely (Ninu 92), Kapetanos, Surdu (Onicaş 77), Toja, Nicoliţă, Marin, Ghionea, Bicfalvi, Stancu (Ionescu 93).

Match background
• Twente's record in five games against Romanian sides reads W2 D3 L0 (W1 D1 L0 at home).

• Steaua's record against Dutch opponents is W3 D3 L5 (W1 D2 L2 in the Netherlands). They met another Dutch side, sc Heerenveen, at this stage of the 2005/06 UEFA Cup, winning 3-2 on aggregate.

• The Tukkers eliminated Romania's FC Vaslui in this season's UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, winning 2-0 in Arnhem and drawing 0-0 in Piatra Neamt.

• Twente are unbeaten in five European home games – four wins and a draw – since losing to Villarreal CF in last season's UEFA Europa League quarter-finals.

• Twente are in the round of 32 for a fourth successive season. They lost to Olympique de Marseille on penalties in 2008/09 and SV Werder Bremen the following season, but broke their duck last term by eliminating FC Rubin Kazan.

• Steaua coach Ilie Stan will not have fond memories of the club's 1989/90 European Champion Clubs' Cup second-round tie against PSV Eindhoven; an unused substitute in Steaua's 1-0 home win, he appeared for the final 20 minutes of the subsequent 5-1 defeat in Eindhoven.

• Steaua have gone eleven games without a European away win since beating Saint Patrick's Athletic FC 2-1 in Dublin in the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League play-offs.

• Steaua last featured in the round of 32 in 2006/07, bowing out to Sevilla FC. They had made it through the same round in the previous two seasons, beating Valencia CF and Heerenveen respectively.

Team facts
• Bucharest's National Arena stages the 9 May final and Steaua are looking to become the third side to contest the showpiece at their home stadium since the UEFA Cup final became a single match in 1997/98. Feyenoord won the 2001/02 final at Rotterdam's De Kuip, beating Borussia Dortmund, but Sporting Clube de Portugal lost the 2004/05 decider against PFC CSKA Moskva at their Estádio José Alvalade.

• Steaua have the worst disciplinary record of any side in the competition, having been shown four red cards and 18 yellows.

• Twente's Theodor Vogelsang turns 22 on the day of the game.

• Steaua coach Stan, who replaced Roni Levy after matchday two, was a midfielder with the club from 1987 to 1995 and in 1997. He also represented KSV Cercle Brugge, AEL Limassol FC, Hapoel Petach-Tikva FC and Hapoel Tzafririm FC. Stan was briefly Romania assistant coach in 2002 and 2004, and led FC Victoria Brăneşti to Romania's top flight with successive promotions before resigning in April 2011.

• After Co Adriaanse's dismissal as Twente coach in January, McClaren returned to take the reins for a second time. The former Middlesbrough FC, England and VfL Wolfsburg boss led the club to 2009/10 Dutch title – the first in their history.

• McClaren's Middlesbrough FC overcame Steaua in the 2005/06 UEFA Cup semi-finals, losing 1-0 away before coming from 2-0 down in the home leg to win 4-2.

Round of 16
• The winners take on the victors of the FC Viktoria Plzeň v FC Schalke 04 tie in the round of 16 on 8 and 15 March, playing the first leg at home.

• Steaua have never met Plzeň but faced Schalke in this season's group stage. They drew in Romania but lost 2-1 in Gelsenkirchen, Raul Rusescu scoring their goal.

• Twente have never met Plzeň either, but took on Schalke in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup group stage, winning 2-1 at home against a side coached by their former boss Fred Rutten.

Competition statistics
• An updated version of the UEFA Europa League Statistics Handbook is available here:
http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/news/newsid=1750416.html