Valencia v Rapid Wien background

Valencia CF coach Gary Neville will hope to have something extra to celebrate on his 41st birthday as his side take on SK Rapid Wien in the first leg of their UEFA Europa League round of 32 tie.

Previous meetings
• The teams are meeting for the first time in UEFA competition, although they were paired together in the 1963/64 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup, Valencia prevailing 3-2 on aggregate after a goalless first leg in Austria.

• Valencia have won all of their four previous home matches against Austrian clubs, while Rapid have yet to triumph in six games in Spain (W0 D2 L4).

• Valencia's record in eight UEFA fixtures against Austrian sides is W6 D1 L1 (W4 D0 L0 at home – W2 D1 L1 in Austria).

• Rapid's record in 11 encounters with Spanish teams is W3 D2 L6 (W3 D0 L2 in Vienna – W0 D2 L4 in Spain).

Form guide
• Valencia bowed out of this season's UEFA Champions League group stage. They lost their last three games without scoring.

• Rapid's record in five European away trips this season is W3 D1 L1. They have kept just one clean sheet in their last 18 European games, home and away.

• Valencia ventured from the group stage to the semi-finals in their most recent UEFA Europa League campaign, in 2013/14. They won the UEFA Cup in 2004, beating Olympique de Marseille 2-0 in the final in Gothenburg.

• Rapid have not featured in the spring phase of a UEFA competition since they made it to the final of the 1995/96 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, losing 1-0 to Paris Saint-Germain in Brussels. They negotiated the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League group stage for the first time at the fifth attempt this season.

Trivia and links
• The journey from Vienna to Valencia is around 1,650km.

• Rapid boast Spanish talent in the form of Canary Islands-born striker Tomi Correa, who played for CD Tenerife, CF Badalona, CD Logroñes and UD Tegueste before moving to Austria in 2009.

• Rapid's Hungarian midfielder Tamás Szántó turns 20 on the day of the first leg against Valencia.

The coaches
• Hired as Valencia coach in December, Neville was working as a pundit and as an assistant coach with the England national team. He lifted the UEFA Champions League trophy twice and won eight Premier League titles during his time as a Manchester United FC defender.

• Neville has never featured in a UEFA Europa League game. The last of his two UEFA Cup appearances came in September 1995 – a 0-0 draw at SC Rotor Volgograd. He made his continental debut in another UEFA Cup tie, playing three minutes of United's 0-0 draw against FC Torpedo Moskva in September 1992.

• A midfielder of Croatian descent, Vienna-born Zoran Barisic played for Rapid from 1993 to 1995 and has been on the coaching staff since 2006. He has been in sole command at the club since 2013 and led them to a runners-up finish in the Austrian Bundesliga last term.

• Neville and Barisic met as players when United beat Rapid 2-0 home and away in the 1996/97 UEFA Champions League group stage. Neville played in both games, while Barisic came on for the final 26 minutes of the first meeting, at Old Trafford.