Midtjylland v Manchester United background

FC Midtjylland embark upon the highest-profile fixture in their history hoping to take a second English scalp of the season, with Manchester United FC heading to Denmark for a UEFA Europa League round of 32 tie.

Previous meetings
• The sides are meeting for the first time in UEFA competition.

• Midtjylland's record in four games against English sides is W2 D1 L1 (W1 D0 L1 at home – W1 D1 L0 in England). They have already accounted for one Premier League club this season, eliminating Southampton FC 2-1 on aggregate in the play-offs.

• They won their only previous match in Manchester, beating Manchester City FC 1-0 in the first leg of a 2008/09 UEFA Cup second qualifying round tie. They lost the return fixture by the same scoreline, bowing out 4-2 on penalties.

• United's six encounters with Danish teams have ended W4 D1 L1 (W2 D1 L0 at home – W2 D0 L1 in Denmark).

Form guide
• Midtjylland are without a victory in four European games (D1 L3).

• United failed to win away in the 2015/16 UEFA Champions League group stage (D1 L2). They are on a three-game losing streak in the UEFA Europa League.

• Midtjylland are featuring in the spring phase of a UEFA competition for the first time, having broken new ground this term by reaching – and making it through – the UEFA Europa League group stage. Midtjylland and Molde FK have had the longest campaigns of any sides in this season's round of 32, both having started out in the UEFA Champions League second qualifying round.

• United last competed in the UEFA Europa League in 2011/12, reaching the round of 16. The UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League is the only major UEFA trophy the Red Devils have not won – they made it to the 1984/85 quarter-finals in their most successful campaign.

Trivia and links
• The journey from Manchester to Herning is around 775km.

• Midtjylland are one of five sides in the round of 32 who qualified for Europe this season as domestic champions along with FC Basel 1893 (Switzerland), Galatasaray AŞ (Turkey), Molde FK (Norway) and Olympiacos FC (Greece), though Molde have since lost their title to Rosenborg BK.

• United forward Anthony Martial, reserve goalkeeper Sergio Romero and Midtjylland midfielder Jakob Poulsen were team-mates at AS Monaco FC from 2013 to 2014.

• United's Daley Blind and Midtjylland midfielder Petter Andersson played together at FC Groningen in 2010.

• Midtjylland goalkeeper Mikkel Andersen played for a number of lower-league English clubs on loan while under contract at Reading FC.

• Midtjylland's Croatian forward Martin Pušić played in England with Hull City AFC in the 2011/12 season. Midfielder Kristoffer Olsson was a trainee at Arsenal FC but made just one senior appearance, in a September 2013 League Cup tie at West Bromwich Albion FC.

• Midtjylland (literally: central Jutland) were formed in 1999 with the merger of Ikast fS and Herning Fremad BK.

• Should United triumph in the UEFA Europa League this season, they would become only the fifth club to have won all three major UEFA trophies (European Champion Clubs' Cup/UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League/UEFA Cup and UEFA Cup Winners' Cup) after AFC Ajax, FC Bayern München, Juventus and Chelsea FC.

The coaches
• Midtjylland boss Jess Thorup played in Germany and Austria as a forward. He made his name as a coach at Esbjerg fB, where he won a Danish Cup before taking Denmark to the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship semi-finals. Midtjylland hired him last summer.

• United manager since summer 2014, Louis van Gaal won the UEFA Cup and UEFA Champions League as Ajax coach, as well as domestic titles with FC Barcelona, AZ Alkmaar and Bayern, and led the Netherlands to a third-place finish at the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals.