Skënderbeu v Sporting CP background

KF Skënderbeu's first adventure in the UEFA Europa League group stage will be over if they lose to Sporting Clube de Portugal in Group H.

Previous meetings
• Hamdi Salihi's first-half dismissal heralded a 5-1 defeat for Skënderbeu when they played Sporting on matchday three. It was their first meeting with Portuguese opponents and one of their two heaviest losses in UEFA competition – along with a 4-0 reverse at APOEL FC in a 2011/12 UEFA Champions League qualifier.

• Bajram Jashanica's consolation effort in Lisbon was Skënderbeu's first Group H goal and the first an Albanian club has scored against Portuguese opponents.

• This is only the sixth fixture between clubs from these nations in UEFA competition. To date, no Albanian side has won (D1 L4).

• Sporting's only previous games against Albanian teams were in a 1985/86 UEFA Cup second round tie versus FK Dinamo Tirana that they won 1-0 on aggregate.

Form guide
• Skënderbeu and FC Dinamo Minsk are the only sides who have lost all three of their group stage games this season.

• The Albanian club are the only one of the eight newcomers to the UEFA Europa League group stage this term yet to record a point. FC Augsburg got off the mark with their 1-0 matchday three win at AZ Alkmaar, while FC Groningen's late equaliser earned them a 1-1 draw at Slovan Liberec.

• Sporting are without a victory in 16 European away games (D5 L11) since a 2-0 success at FC Zürich in the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League group stage.

• Skenderbëu are the first Albanian outfit to feature in the group stage of a major UEFA competition.

• In five previous UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns, Sporting have only once failed to make it to the round of 32 – in 2012/13.

Trivia and links
• The journey from Lisbon to Elbasan – where Skënderbeu play their European home games – is around 2,500km.

• Skënderbeu midfielder Gerhard Progni turns 29 the day after the game.

• Skënderbeu striker Salihi has scored 14 UEFA club competition goals – one more than all of his team-mates combined.

• Skënderbeu are one of ten sides in the group stage who qualified for Europe this season as domestic champions, along with Qarabağ FK (Azerbaijan), APOEL FC (Cyprus), FC Viktoria Plzeň (Czech Republic), FC Midtjylland (Denmark), KKS Lech Poznań (Poland), FK Partizan (Serbia), Celtic FC (Scotland), Molde FK (Norway) and FC Basel 1893 (Switzerland).

The coaches
• In charge at Skënderbeu since 2012, Mirel Josa was capped 27 times as a midfielder by Albania and spent the bulk of his career at KF Tirana before finishing up in Greece. He won a title as a coach with Tirana too, and has led his current side to glory in the last three Albanian league campaigns.

• A losing UEFA Europa League finalist with SL Benfica in 2013 and 2014, Jorge Jesus unexpectedly left the Eagles for fierce local rivals Sporting this summer. The 61-year-old had started his playing career at Sporting – who his father Virgolino also represented – and had coached Benfica since 2009.