Lech v Basel background

KKS Lech Poznań will hope to avoid being eliminated from a second competition by FC Basel 1893 this season as UEFA Europa League Group I concludes.

• To qualify for the round of 32, Lech must win and hope that ACF Fiorentina lose at home to Os Belenenses. That would mean Lech and Belenenses would finish level on eight points with an identical head-to-head record, the side with the superior goal difference progressing. In the unlikely event that the sides finish with an identical goal difference too, the side with the most goals scored would go through.

• Basel are certain to finish top of the section.

Previous meetings
• Basel beat Lech 2-0 at home on matchday two – their third victory against the Polish side this season following a 3-1 win in Poznan and a 1-0 home success in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round.

• Lech's only previous tie against a Swiss side prior to this season was a 6-0 aggregate defeat of Grasshopper Club Zürich in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup second qualifying round. All the goals were scored in the home leg, including two for a young Robert Lewandowski. Basel midfielder Davide Callà was on the losing team.

• Basel's record in five games against Polish sides now reads W4 D0 L1 (W2 D0 L1 in Poland).

Form guide
• Lech have not scored in their last two Group I games, and have not found the target in two Group I home fixtures to date. Their record in five UEFA home games this season is W2 D1 L2.

• Basel are unbeaten in four European away games this season (W3 D1).

• Lech progressed to the round of 32 in their only two previous UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns.

• Basel have featured in the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League group stage seven times; they have made it to the knockout stage on five occasions, including this season, and been eliminated twice.

Trivia and links
• The journey from Basel to Poznan is around 850km.

• Basel's Argentinian defender Walter Samuel can make his 100th UEFA club competition appearance on matchday six.

• The match is taking place the day after Lech defender Dariusz Dudka's 32nd birthday.

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

• Lech's Swiss midfielder Darko Jevtic was signed from Basel after a successful loan spell. The 22-year-old was born in Basel and came through the youth ranks at the Swiss club.

• Basel's Breel Embolo is the most fouled player in this season's group stage having been impeded 19 times.

• Basel and Lech are among ten sides in this season's group stage that qualified for Europe as domestic champions, along with KF Skenderbëu (Albania), Qarabağ FK (Azerbaijan), APOEL FC (Cyprus), FC Viktoria Plzeň (Czech Republic), FC Midtjylland (Denmark), FK Partizan (Serbia), Molde FK (Norway) and Celtic FC (Scotland).

The coaches
• Jan Urban replaced Maciej Skorża as Lech coach in the run-up to matchday three with the Polish champions bottom of the Ekstraklasa. Former Poland striker Urban won three national titles as a player and two more as Legia Warszawa coach.

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