Rapid keen to end hoodoo at Leverkusen

With SK Rapid Wien having lost all eight of their previous games in Germany, Bayer 04 Leverkusen will fancy their chances of extending an impressive record of their own.

• Two goals from Gonzalo Castro and one apiece from Philipp Wollscheid and Karim Bellarabi earned Leverkusen a comprehensive 4-0 victory at Rapid on matchday three.

• The German Bundesliga outfit are top of Group K and will qualify for the round of 32 if they beat Rapid and FC Metalist Kharkiv defeat Rosenborg BK.

Previous meetings
• The sides met for the first time in UEFA competition on matchday three.

• Rapid's record in 18 games against German clubs reads W7 D1 L10 (W7 D1 L2 at home – W0 D0 L8 in Germany). Those home matches include a 1-0 win against FC Wismut Aue in the 1960/61 European Champion Clubs' Cup, in a replay staged in Basle, Switzerland.

• Prior to matchday three, FC Bayern München – in the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League group stage – were the only German side to have beaten Rapid in Vienna.

• Leverkusen's four-game record against Austrian sides stands at W2 D2 L0 (W1 D0 L0 at home – W1 D2 L0 in Austria). They beat Rapid's neighbours FK Austria Wien 5-1 at home after a 0-0 draw in Vienna in the 1987/88 UEFA Cup first round.

Match background
• Leverkusen have suffered just two defeats in their last 11 European home games, winning seven. They defeated eventual UEFA Champions League winners Chelsea FC 2-1 in last season's group stage.

• The 4-0 matchday three loss at home to Leverkusen was Rapid's heaviest home defeat in the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League. It also matched the margin of their previous worst home loss in Europe – a 6-2 defeat by ACF Fiorentina in the first round of the 1961/62 European Champion Clubs' Cup. Exactly 51 years separated those two defeats, with both fixtures taking place on 25 October.

• Including a 2-0 reverse at Metalist on matchday two, Rapid have lost their last four European away games, since a 2-0 victory at PFC CSKA Sofia in the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League group stage.

Team facts
• Leverkusen and Newcastle United FC are the only sides who have yet to concede in this season's group stage.

• Rapid are the only team who have yet to pick up a point going into matchday four.

• Rapid are within two goals of their 350th in UEFA club competition – this will be their 227th European game.

• AIK, Hapoel Kiryat Shmona FC, BSC Young Boys and Rapid have conceded eight goals in this season's group stage – more than any other teams in the competition.

• Rapid midfielder Steffen Hofmann played in Germany with Bayern (2000-02) and TSV 1860 München (2005-06), and the club's United States forward Terrence Boyd also spent time in the reserve teams at Hertha BSC Berlin and Borussia Dortmund before coming to Austria this summer.

• Rapid coach Peter Schöttel served the club as a defender from 1986-2002, winning three titles and two Austrian Cups as well as earning a place in the capital outfit's Team of the Century in 1999. After retiring, the one-time team captain coached the club's amateur side and then managed SC Wiener Neustadt before returning to take charge of Rapid in 2011.

• Team manager Sami Hyypiä leads Leverkusen in collaboration with coach Sascha Lewandowski. Former Finland defender Hyypiä won the 2000/01 UEFA Cup and the 2004/05 UEFA Champions League during a ten-year spell at Liverpool FC, moving on to Leverkusen in 2009. After retiring in 2011, Hyypiä took up coaching roles with Leverkusen and Finland, and stepped in – initially on a caretaker basis – after the Werkself sacked Robin Dutt in April 2012.