PSV bid to bounce back against Valencia

Following the recent departure of coach Fred Rutten, PSV Eindhoven have to claw back a two-goal deficit against Valencia CF as their round of 16 tie concludes in the Netherlands.

• Valencia were 4-0 up through Víctor Ruiz's first strike for the club (11), a Stanislav Manolev own goal (13), a Roberto Soldado penalty (43) and Pablo Piatti (56), but Ola Toivonen's spot kick (83) and a last-gasp strike from Georginio Wijnaldum (90) gave PSV something to play for in the second leg. PSV were unbeaten in 11 European outings going into that game.

Previous meetings
• The sides' only previous meetings came in the first group stage of the 1999/2000 UEFA Champions League, where Héctor Cúper's Valencia reached the final only to lose out 3-0 to Real Madrid CF in Paris.

• Valencia drew 1-1 against Erik Gerets' PSV in Eindhoven, Ruud van Nistelrooy (72) cancelling out Claudio López's fourth-minute opener for the visitors, but the Dutch side had no response when Claudio López (70) scored once again in the return fixture, his side winning 1-0.

• The teams for the first meeting in Eindhoven on 21 September 1999 were:
PSV: Waterreus, Dirkx, Faber (Wielaert 56), Heintze, Khokhlov, Van Nistelrooy, Bruggink, Vogel, Rommedahl (Kolkka 74), Nikiforov, Stângă (Bouma* 69).
Valencia: Cañizares (Palop 63), Pellegrino, Björklund, Mendieta, Claudio López (Óscar 90), Gerard López, Carboni, Juan Sánchez (Angulo 74), Kily González, Angloma, Albelda*.

* registered to play in this season's UEFA Europa League.

• PSV's Wilfried Bouma and Valencia's David Albelda, both of whom are registered to play with their clubs in the UEFA Europa League this season, played in that game.

• More recently, the sides met in a 19 July 2011 friendly game in Wolfsberg, Austria, where goals from Pablo Piatti and Aritz Aduriz gave Valencia a 2-0 win.

Match background
• Valencia remain unbeaten in nine games against Dutch opponents, boasting the record W4 D5 L0 (W3 D2 L0 at home – W1 D3 L0 in the Netherlands).

• PSV's 23 previous games against Spanish opponents have ended W4 D9 L10 (W4 D5 L2 at home – W0 D4 L8 in Spain).

• Valencia are unbeaten in eight UEFA Europa League games since a 1-0 loss at Club Brugge KV in the first leg of the 2009/10 round of 32. They won the return encounter 3-0 then drew their subsequent four fixtures.

• PSV are unbeaten in 18 European home games – 13 wins and five draws – since a 3-1 defeat to Liverpool FC in the UEFA Champions League group stage on 9 December 2008. They last lost a UEFA Cup or UEFA Europa League home match on 10 April 2008, going down 2-0 to ACF Fiorentina in the quarter-finals.

• Valencia's 1-0 win at Stoke City FC in the round of 32 followed a six-game winless run on the road in Europe.

• The Spanish side lifted the UEFA Cup in 2003/04, beating Olympique de Marseille 2-0 in the final in Gothenburg. They last reached the round of 16 in 2009/10, beating SV Werder Bremen on away goals after 1-1 and 4-4 draws, before losing on away goals to eventual winners Club Atlético de Madrid, drawing 2-2 at home and 0-0 away.

• PSV have reached the last 16 of the UEFA Cup or UEFA Europa League for the ninth time; they have won seven of those ties only failing to progress to the quarter-finals on their first attempt, when they lost to K. Lierse SK in the 1971/72 competition.

Team facts
• PSV are three goals shy of their 200th UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League goal; this is their 118th game in the two competitions.

• PSV's next goal will be their 450th in UEFA club competition. This will be their 295th game in UEFA competition. Should they reach the final, the decider in Bucharest would be their 300th UEFA competition game.

• PSV's Tim Matavž is one of the highest scoring players left in the competition with five goals – the same number as Club Atlético de Madrid's Falcao, who set a record with 17 UEFA Europa League goals for FC Porto last season, and one fewer than Klaas-Jan Huntelaar of FC Schalke 04. Matías Suárez scored seven for RSC Anderlecht, but his side were eliminated in the round of 32.

• PSV replaced Rutten with Phillip Cocu as their coach on Monday. Rutten had announced at the end of December that he would leave the club this summer once his contract expires. He had been at the helm since 2009.

• Capped 101 times by the Netherlands, Cocu had two spells at PSV as a player. He will know Valencia well having played for FC Barcelona between 1998 and 2004, making over 200 Liga appearances for the Camp Nou side. He has been put in charge until the end of the season – it is his first head coach role.

• Valencia boast Dutch talent in the form of central defender Hedwiges Maduro, a 2008 signing from AFC Ajax.

• The son and grandson of famous goalkeepers, Valencia coach Unai Emery had a modest playing career but learned quickly as a coach at Lorca Deportiva CF and UD Almería, with whom he won promotion to the Liga. Valencia chose him to replace Ronald Koeman as coach in 2008.

• Valencia have been coached by two Dutchmen, Guus Hiddink and Ronald Koeman, both of whom coached PSV too.

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