Club Brugge v Midtjylland background

Club Brugge KV got off to a dreadful start in UEFA Europa League Group D, but will hope the arrival of Danish visitors in the form of FC Midtjylland heralds better things.

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

• Club Brugge's 13 games against Danish teams have ended W7 D3 L3 (W3 D2 L2 at home – W4 D1 L1 in Denmark). Those fixtures include six in last season's UEFA Europa League (W5 D1), where they got the better of Brøndby IF in the third qualifying round, FC København in the group stage and Aalborg BK in the round of 16.

• Midtjylland conceded three goals home and away as they lost out to RSC Anderlecht in the 2002/03 UEFA Cup second round – their only previous tie against a Belgian club.

Form guide
• Club Brugge kicked off Group D with a 5-0 defeat at SSC Napoli – their heaviest reverse in UEFA competition alongside a 6-1 European Champion Clubs' Cup loss at AS Monaco FC in November 1988.

• Club Brugge have lost their last three European games, with the goals against tally getting worse by one a match: 1-3, 0-4, 0-5.

• Midtjylland's 1-0 win at home against Legia Warszawa on matchday one continued a pattern of sorts – they have scored once in six of their seven European games this season, the exception being a 2-0 victory at Gibraltar's Lincoln Red Imps FC. They are unbeaten away from home in Europe this term (W2 D1).

• Club Brugge have featured at this stage of the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League eight times, qualifying on three occasions and missing out on five others. They are the most experienced UEFA Europa League group stage campaigners in this season's field. This will be the Belgian side's 32nd game in the group phase. Only PSV Eindhoven (36) have contested more.

• This is Midtjylland's first UEFA group stage campaign.

Trivia and links
• The journey from Herning to Bruges is around 670km.

• Midtjylland defender Jim Larsen was on the books at Club Brugge from 2012 to 2014; team-mate Francis Dickoh was with their city rivals Cercle Brugge KSV in 2012/13.

• Club Brugge's Brazilian midfielder Claudemir was in Denmark from 2010 to 2015 with København – indeed, he featured in the FCK side that drew 1-1 away and lost 4-0 at home to Club Brugge in last season's UEFA Europa League group stage.

• Midtjylland are one of ten domestic champions in this season's group stage, along with KF Skenderbëu (Albania), Qarabağ FK (Azerbaijan), APOEL FC (Cyprus), FC Viktoria Plzeň (Czech Republic), KKS Lech Poznań (Poland), FK Partizan (Serbia), Celtic FC (Scotland), Molde FK (Norway) and FC Basel 1893 (Switzerland).

• Midtjylland (literally: central Jutland) were formed in 1999 with the merger of Ikast fS and Herning Fremad BK.

• Club Brugge's Timmy Simons and Partizan's Saša Ilić have made more outfield appearances than any other player in this season's group stage: 119.

The coaches
• A great goalkeeper in his time, Club Brugge coach Michel Preud'homme has carved out a fine career as a coach, winning titles in Belgium (with R. Standard de Liège) and Saudi Arabia (Al-Shabab). Club Brugge coach since 2013, he led them to Belgian Cup success last season.

• Midtjylland boss Jess Thorup played in Germany and Austria as a forward. He made his name as a coach at Esbjerg fB, where he won a Danish Cup before taking Denmark to the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship semi-finals. Midtjylland hired him this summer.