Home comforts the aim for Gladbach

VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach fans have hopes of ending a 16-year wait to celebrate a home win in European competition, but Fenerbahçe SK will be looking to poop the Bundesliga club's party plans and end their own unsuccessful run on German soil when the duo meet in UEFA Europa League Group C.

Previous meetings
• The sides have never met before and this is Mönchengladbach's first game against a Turkish side.

• Fenerbahçe's nine games against German teams have ended W0 D2 L7 (W0 D2 L3 in Istanbul – W0 D0 L4 in Germany). It will be some consolation that they have drawn two of their last three games against German teams.

Match background
• Mönchengladbach are making their debut in a UEFA competition group stage, after losing out in the UEFA Champions League play-offs to FC Dynamo Kyiv.

• Gladbach have lost their last two European home games – separated, admittedly, by nearly 16 years – by two-goal margins.

• Fenerbahçe are competing in the UEFA Europa League group stage for a third time having lost out to FC Spartak Moskva in the UEFA Champions League play-offs. The Istanbul side reached the round of 32 in both their previous efforts.

Team facts
• Fenerbahçe's Caner Erkin turns 24 on the day of the match.

• Mönchengladbach's Filip Daems played in Turkey for Gençlerbirligi SK (2001–04), where Fenerbahçe right-back Orhan Şam was one of his team-mates.

• Mönchengladbach midfielder Tolga Cigerci is German-born but of Turkish extraction.

• Fenerbahçe have three German-born players, all of whom represented Bundesliga clubs: Hanam Ali Kaldırım (1. FC Kaiserslautern, 1. FSV Mainz 05), Sezer Öztürk (Bayer 04 Leverkusen, 1. FC Nürnberg) and Serdar Kesimal (1. FC Köln).

• As a midfielder, Mönchengladbach coach Lucien Favre won the 1984/85 Swiss title with Servette FC and 24 caps for Switzerland. He won further Swiss Cups as a coach with Servette and FC Zürich, as well as two titles with the latter. He has specialised in creating competitive sides in Germany on modest budgets, finishing fourth in the Bundesliga with Hertha BSC Berlin in 2008/09 and Mönchengladbach in 2011/12.

• Aykut Kocaman made his name with Fenerbahçe as a striker, winning two titles in an eight-year stint (1988–96). He moved into coaching at Istanbulspor AŞ, and following spells at Malatyaspor, Konyaspor and Ankaraspor, became Fenerbahçe's director of football. He then became coach in 2010, winning the title in his first season and the Turkish Cup in the next campaign.