Trabzonspor v Legia background
Monday, September 22, 2014
Article summary
Having beaten Legia Warszawa home and away in last season's UEFA Europa League group stage, Trabzonspor AŞ can feel optimistic about their Group L rematch.
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Trabzonspor AŞ beat Legia Warszawa home and away in last season's UEFA Europa League group stage and will be hoping those results serve them well when the sides meet again in Group L.
Form guide
• The two teams first crossed paths in last season's UEFA Europa League group stage, Mustafa Reşit Akçay's Trabzonspor beating Jan Urban's Legia 2-0 at home, and then 2-0 in the return leg in Poland.
• The teams for that last meeting in Trabzon on 24 October 2013 were:
Trabzonspor: Onur*, Bosingwa*, Aykut*, Bamba, Mierzejewski (Soner* 81), Paulo Henrique (Emre 80), Malouda, Zokora, Mustafa Yumlu*, Janko (Yusuf* 70), Olcan.
Legia: Skaba, Dossa Júnior*, Jodłowiec*, Dvalishvili, Brzyski*, Kosecki* (Kucharczyk* 74), Vrdoljak* (Furman 65), Hélio Pinto*, Rzeźnicak*, Broź*, Żyro* (Ojamaa 8).
*registered to play for their club this season
• Trabzonspor have lost just one of their last nine European home games (2-0 to Juventus in last season's round of 32), the other eight matches in that run ending W5 D3.
• Legia have already won as many games as they did in last season's UEFA Europa League group stage – one.
Trivia and links
• Legia's dream is to feature in the UEFA Europa League final in their home city; the tournament will conclude at the National Stadium, Warsaw, on 27 May 2015.
• Trabzonspor remain unbeaten in three European games under coach Vahid Halilhodžić.
The coaches
• Former Yugoslavia striker Halilhodžić took charge at Trabzonspor for a second time in summer 2014, fresh from guiding Algeria to the 2014 FIFA World Cup round of 16. He made his name in France, scoring freely for FC Nantes before joining Paris Saint-Germain, and later returned to the capital club as coach.
• Henning Berg took charge of Legia at the start of 2014. The former Blackburn Rovers FC, Manchester United FC and Rangers FC defender was capped 100 times by Norway. As a coach, he has held the reins at FK Lyn, Lillestrøm SK and – for just 57 days – Blackburn.