Basel v Fiorentina background

FC Basel 1893 got the better of their old coach Paulo Sousa when they beat ACF Fiorentina in Italy on matchday one and they will seal a place in the UEFA Europa League round of 32 with a repeat performance.

• Basel will qualify from Group I with a win, or if Os Belenenses and KKS Lech Poznań draw in the section's other game.

• Fiorentina and Basel would qualify together if a Viola victory coincides with a draw in Lisbon.

Previous meetings
• Basel came from behind to triumph 2-1 when the sides met for the first time on 17 September.

• Basel's statistics from ten games against Italian clubs are W4 D1 L5 (W2 D1 L1 at home).

• Fiorentina's nine games against Swiss opponents have ended W5 D1 L3 (W3 D1 L0 in Switzerland).

Form guide
• Basel have lost only one of their eight European games this season – 2-1 at home against Belenenses on matchday three.

• Fiorentina have won both of their European away fixtures this term, scoring six goals in the process and conceding none. They have yet to lose in ten UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage away games (W7 D3).

• Basel have previously featured in the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage six times – they have progressed to the knockout phase on four occasions and been eliminated twice.

• Fiorentina made it to last season's UEFA Europa League semi-finals, losing to eventual winners Sevilla FC.

• Fiorentina have advanced to the round of 32 in all three of their UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns.

Trivia and links
• The 2016 UEFA Europa League final will be played at Basel's St. Jakob-Park on 18 May.

• The journey from Florence to Basel to just over 500km, meaning the Viola are facing the shortest journey of any of the sides on matchday five.

• Fiorentina striker Giuseppe Rossi's next UEFA club competition appearance will be his 50th – his 49 European games have yielded 24 goals.

• Marc Janko's penalty in Basel's 2-0 win at Belenenses on matchday four made him the first player to score in the UEFA Europa League for four clubs. He had previously found the net four times each for FC Salzburg and FC Twente and once for Trabzonspor AŞ.

• Basel's Breel Embolo and Fenerbahçe SK's Nani were fouled 15 times in the first four matchdays – more than any other players in the competition.

• Basel's Philipp Degen and Fiorentina's Jakub Błaszczykowski were team-mates at Borussia Dortmund in 2007/08.

• Basel defender Walter Samuel gained extensive Serie A experience with AS Roma (2000–04) and FC Internazionale Milano (2005–14).

• Basel midfielder Birkir Bjarnason played in Italy with Pescara Calcio (2012–13, 2014/15) and UC Sampdoria (2013/14).

• Fiorentina striker Nikola Kalinić was a losing UEFA Europa League finalist with FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk last season.

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

The coaches
• Urs Fischer took charge of Basel this summer following Sousa's move to Fiorentina. The one-time FC Zürich defender led Zürich (2011/12) and FC Thun (2013/14) into the UEFA Europa League group stage, though neither side made it to the knockout phase.

• A European champion as a player with Juventus (1996) and Dortmund (1997), former Portugal midfielder Sousa joined Fiorentina in June and is on the hunt for a third league title in as many seasons, having won the 2013/14 Israeli crown with Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC and last season's Swiss Super League with Basel.