Lazio and Legia ready for action

The cup holders from Italy and Poland meet on matchday one in UEFA Europa League Group J with SS Lazio hoping that they can end Legia Warszawa's six-game unbeaten run in Europe this season.

Previous meetings
• The sides are meeting for the first time in UEFA competition.

• Lazio's only previous encounters with a Polish side came in 2002/03; they drew 3-3 at home and then won 2-1 away against Wisła Kraków in the UEFA Cup fourth round.

• Legia's 12 games against Italian clubs have ended W2 D5 L5 (W0 D2 L4 away). This will be their first visit to Rome, and indeed their first competitive game in Italy since a 1-0 loss at Udinese Calcio in a UEFA Cup second round game on 19 October 1999.

Match background
• This is Lazio's fifth group stage campaign; they missed the cut in their first two, in 2004/05 and 2009/10, but reached the 2011/12 round of 32 and last season's quarter-finals.

• Lazio are unbeaten in seven European home games (W5 D2) since going down 2-1 to Club Atlético de Madrid in the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League round of 32; the Spanish side went on to win the competition.

• Legia enjoyed their maiden UEFA Europa League group stage campaign in 2011/12, finishing second in their group before losing to Sporting Clube de Portugal in the round of 32.

• Legia have drawn their last four European games since beating The New Saints FC home and away in the UEFA Champions League second qualifying round, bowing out of the play-offs of that competition following an away-goals loss to FC Steaua Bucureşti having overcome Molde FK by the same route in the third qualifying round.

Team facts
• Legia and Slovenia's NK Maribor have made it to the group stage after winning domestic doubles last season; Legia are one of nine domestic champions and 11 cup winners – including Lazio - in this season's starting lineup.

• Libor Kozák, who left Lazio for Aston Villa FC in the summer, was the 2012/13 UEFA Europa League top scorer with eight goals.

Coach information
• Hired in summer 2012, Vladimir Petković led Lazio to the Coppa Italia in his first season in charge. Nicknamed Il Dottore (The Doctor), the Sarajevo-born coach reportedly speaks eight languages, and has spent most of his career in Switzerland as a midfielder and then a coach. Prior to joining Lazio, he took BSC Young Boys to the UEFA Europa League group stage and reached the last eight with the Biancocelesti last season.

• Legia coach Jan Urban will turn 52 on the day of the 2013/14 UEFA Europa League final. Having scored at an impressive rate for Zagłębie Sosnowiec and Górnik Zabrze the striker had a long spell in Spain, notably with CA Osasuna from 1989 to 1994. Capped 57 times, he started coaching with Osasuna's B team, and is now in his second spell in charge at Legia, winning a domestic double in his first season back in 2012/13.