Sparta Praha v Schalke background

AC Sparta Praha denied FC Schalke 04 a third successive Group K win on matchday three, but another UEFA Europa League victory will put the German side into the round of 32.

Previous meetings
• Leroy Sané equalised for Schalke as the teams drew 2-2 on 22 October. It was Sparta's fourth scoring draw in as many European away matches this term

• Tadeáš Kraus's Sparta defeated Ivica Horvat's Schalke 4-2 on aggregate in the last eight of the 1972/73 European Cup Winners' Cup to reach the only UEFA semi-final in their history – which they lost to AC Milan.

• Sparta's 12 encounters with German teams ended W4 D3 L5 (W3 D0 L2 at home).

• Schalke's 11 games against Czech sides have ended W6 D3 L2 (W1 D2 L2 away).

Form guide
• The only side to beat Sparta in their last 19 UEFA Europa League home games (W11 D7 L1) was eventual winners Chelsea FC, 1-0 in the 2012/13 round of 32.

• Schalke have won their last three European away games – a run which includes a 4-3 success at Real Madrid CF in last season's UEFA Champions League round of 16.

• Sparta have made it through to the knockout phase in two of their six UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns, most recently missing the cut last year.

• Schalke have progressed to the round of 32 in two of their previous three UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns. They won the competition in 1997, beating FC Internazionale Milano on penalties in the two-legged final.

Trivia and links
• The journey from Gelsenkirchen to Prague is around 550km.

• Klaas-Jan Huntelaar needs one more goal to take his UEFA club competition tally to 50. Just 13 players have reached that mark so far.

• Huntelaar is the second highest scorer in the history of the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League with 33 goals, though he is seven adrift of the competitions' leading marksman Henrik Larsson.

• Schalke's Franco Di Santo is the top scorer in this season's group stage with four goals.

• Sparta have been penalised for 62 fouls in the first three matchdays – more than any other team in this season's group stage.

• Sparta's German right-back – former FC Bayern München trainee Markus Steinhöfer – played alongside Schalke goalkeeper Ralf Fährmann at Eintracht Frankfurt (2009–10),

The coaches
• Experienced coach Zdeněk Ščasný was appointed by Sparta in April. Once a defender cum midfielder, he won Czechoslovakian titles with FK Dukla Praha and Sparta. As a coach, he guided Sparta to two championships in the 1990s and has also managed in Greece and Hungary.

• Andre Breitenreiter took over at Schalke in June, having led SC Paderborn 07 to promotion in 2013/14, then steered them momentarily to the top of the Bundesliga. An attacking midfielder, he began his career with Hannover 96 and Hamburger SV yet spent the bulk of his playing days in the lower leagues.