Anderlecht v Qarabağ background

RSC Anderlecht face a possible doomsday scenario going into their final UEFA Europa League Group J game, with Azerbaijani champions Qarabağ FK hoping for a major breakthrough in Brussels.

• Anything other than a home victory would leave Anderlecht vulnerable to losing second place in the section, and Qarabağ would overtake them in the event of an away success due to the visitors' superior head-to-head record.

• Qarabağ will be through if they win and Monaco, in third, do not at Tottenham Hotspur FC. If Qarabağ win and the other game is drawn, the Azerbaijani team will finish second by topping the three-way head-to-head tie-breaker against Monaco and Anderlecht.

Previous meetings
• Qarabağ won 1-0 when the sides met for the first time in UEFA competition on matchday two.

• Anderlecht have now lost both of their away matches in Azerbaijan, but their only previous home game against Azeri opponents – against Neftçi PFK in the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League second qualifying round – ended in a 5-0 triumph.

• Qarabağ won their lone previous home fixture against Belgian opposition 1-0 – however they had lost the first leg of that 2011/12 UEFA Europa League third qualifying round tie against Club Brugge KV 4-1.

Form guide
• Anderlecht are unbeaten in their last four European home matches (W2 D2).

• Qarabağ have lost both of their Group J away games so far.

• Anderlecht advanced to the round of 32 in all four of their previous UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group phase campaigns, most recently 2011/12.

• This is Qarabağ's second UEFA Europa League group campaign; they narrowly missed the cut for the round of 32 last season, having become the second Azeri team to make it to a major UEFA group stage – after Neftçi in 2012/13 – and the first to actually win a group fixture.

Trivia and links
• The journey from Baku to Brussels is just over 3,650km, making this the longest trip of matchday six.

• This is Qarabağ's 50th UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League match; the preceding 49 ended W19 D14 L16.

• Qarabağ forwards Reynaldo (in Brussels from 2008–13) and Samuel Armenteros (2013–15) both joined the club from Anderlecht, though both made just five league appearances for Les Mauves.

• Qarabağ's Macedonian centre-back Vladimir Dimitrovski also plied his trade in Belgium with KVC Westerlo (2006–07).

• Qarabağ are one of ten sides in this term's group stage that qualified for Europe as domestic champions, along with KF Skenderbëu (Albania), 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
• Previously assistant coach, the 43-year-old Besnik Hasi assumed sole command at Anderlecht in 2014. Capped 47 times by Albania, Hasi's playing career took off after moving to Belgium in 1994, the midfielder winning a title with KRC Genk and another with Anderlecht, where he returned after seeing out his playing days at Cercle Brugge KSV.

• Qarabağ coach Gurban Gurbanov, 43, is still his country's highest-scoring international with 12 goals in 62 matches and played his club football in Russia and Ukraine as well as Azerbaijan. Coach since 2008, the former striker has led Qarabağ to domestic championships in the last two campaigns.