Augsburg v Partizan background

FC Augsburg make their continental home debut in UEFA Europa League Group L hoping to extend FK Partizan's run of seven straight defeats in Germany.

Previous meetings
• The teams are meeting for the first time in Europe; it is only Augsburg's second UEFA game and their first encounter with a Serbian side.

• Partizan's 13 matches against German clubs have ended W4 D0 L9 (W4 D0 L2 at home – W0 D0 L7 in Germany). They are on a five-game losing streak against German opposition, and in the course of their seven defeats in Germany they have scored just twice.

Form guide
• This is Augsburg's first European home fixture; they lost 3-1 at Athletic Club on their UEFA debut on matchday one.

• Partizan avoided a 13th successive UEFA Europa League match without a win by overcoming AZ Alkmaar 3-2 in Belgrade on matchday one.

• Founded in 1907, Augsburg secured a fifth-placed finish in Germany last term to qualify directly for the UEFA Europa League group stage. They were the only team making their continental bow on matchday one.

• Partizan have featured in this group stage six times previously, yet have not made it to the round of 32 since their first appearance in 2004/05.

Trivia and links
• The journey from Belgrade to Augsburg is around 850km.

• Augsburg's Piotr Trochowski was an unused substitute when Sevilla FC beat SL Benfica in the 2014 UEFA Europa League final.

• Club Brugge KV's Timmy Simons and Partizan's Saša Ilić have made the most UEFA club competition appearances of any other players in this season's group stage: 119.

• Midfielder Ilić and Augsburg goalkeeper Alex Manninger were briefly team-mates at FC Salzburg in 2008.

• Partizan midfielder Ivan Petrović played in Germany with TSV Alemannia Aachen in 2004/05.

• Partizan 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), FC Midtjylland (Denmark), KKS Lech Poznań (Poland), Celtic FC (Scotland), Molde FK (Norway) and FC Basel 1893 (Switzerland).

The coaches
• Ausgburg coach Markus Weinzierl's playing career peaked when he spent a season with the first-team squad at FC Bayern München, though he never played a senior game. Augsburg appointed him coach in 2012 following a spell at SSV Jahn Regensburg and he has thrived in the role, last term's fifth-place finish a club best.

• Zoran Milinković was installed as Partizan coach in March, helping his charges to win the Serbian title. It was the first major honour of his career. Having started out at Partizan, he played abroad in Hungary, Japan, Belgium, France, Germany and Cyprus, and has subsequently coached in Greece as well as training several Serbian clubs.