Freiburg and Estoril eager for breakthrough

With just a point between them after the first two matchdays in UEFA Europa League Group H, SC Freiburg and Estoril Praia will both look to get a first win when they meet in Germany.

Previous meetings
• This is the sides' first fixture as well as Freiburg's first encounter with Portuguese opponents and Estoril's first experience of German adversaries.

• Portuguese sides' record in UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League away games in Germany is not that encouraging (W4 D3 L19). However, SL Benfica won both of the most recent encounters between Portuguese and German sides on German soil, beating VfB Stuttgart 2-0 in the 2010/11 round of 32, and Bayer 04 Leverkusen 1-0 at the same stage of the 2012/13 competition.

Match background
• Freiburg have drawn both of their last two European home games 2-2 which, combined with a 2-0 loss at Sevilla FC on matchday two, means they have conceded twice in each of their last three continental fixtures.

• That loss to Sevilla was Freiburg's biggest – home or away – in their ten UEFA fixtures to date.

• Freiburg are making their first appearance in a UEFA competition group stage. Indeed, this is their first appearance in Europe since they reached the third round of the 2001/02 UEFA Cup, losing to eventual winners Feyenoord.

• Estoril came through the qualifying phase unbeaten but have now lost their unbeaten home and away records in the competiton, losing 2-1 at home against Sevilla FC on matchday one and then 2-1 at FC Slovan Liberec last time out.

Team facts
• Estoril are one of four sides in the group stage who are in their first European season, along with CS Pandurii Târgu Jiu, Wigan Athletic FC and FC Kuban Krasnodar.

• From a town on the coast of Portugal, Estoril are the westernmost side in this season's group stage. Estoril is 6,358km west of Karaganda, the home of the competition's easternmost representatives FC Shakhtar Karagandy, although it is 6,188km from Astana, where Shakhter will play their group stage games.

• Freiburg are the only side in the competition who have had two players sent off in this season's group stage; Karim Guédé was sent off in their first fixture, a 2-2 draw against Liberec, while Fallou Diagné was dismissed in the 2-0 loss at Sevilla.

• Freiburg's Gelson Fernandes played in the Portuguese league for Sporting Clube de Portugal in the first half of the 2012/13 season.

• Estoril midfielder Carlitos recently played in Germany, representing Hannover 96 from 2010-12.

Coach information
• A qualified teacher, coach Christian Streich played for SC Freiburg and their neighbours Freiburger FC as a midfielder, making a brief cameo appearance in the Bundesliga with FC Homburg 08 before moving into coaching. He took charge of Freiburg's youth team in 1995, later combining that role with work as the club's assistant coach before being given sole command in December 2011. He famously cycles to all of Freiburg's home games.

• One of the most exciting coaching prospects in Portugal, Marco Silva took charge of Estoril midway through 2011/12, leading them to promotion as second division champions and then on to a European debut with a fifth-placed finish the following season. A journeyman defender, the Lisbon-born coach ended his career with a six-year spell at Estoril, moving from the pitch to the bench after hanging up his boots in 2011.