Salzburg v Nice background

Salzburg and Nice can ill afford any further slip-ups as they meet for the first time in UEFA Europa League Group I, having lost both of their opening games in the section.

Previous meetings
• These teams are facing off for the first time – and for Nice, it is a first brush with Austrian opposition.

• In their only previous encounters with French sides, Salzburg lost 3-1 away and won 2-0 at home against Paris Saint-Germain in the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League group stage.

Form guide
• Salzburg were unbeaten in 14 UEFA Europa League group stage appearances (W13 D1) until they lost 1-0 at home to Krasnodar on matchday one; they are now without a point after two matchdays.

• Salzburg have successfully negotiated four of their previous five UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns.

• Nice have technically yet to win in 14 UEFA competition away games (D4 L10). Their lone European victory away from their home stadium came when they thrashed Fenerbahçe 5-1 in a European Cup first-round replay – staged on neutral territory in Geneva – in December 1959.

• This is Nice's first UEFA group stage campaign.

Links and trivia
• The journey from Nice to Salzburg is around 650km.

• Salzburg defender Stefan Stangl turns 25 on the day of the Nice match.

• Salzburg boast French talent in defender Dayot Upamecano, the 17-year-old having joined from Valenciennes in summer 2015 after winning the UEFA European Under-17 Championship with his national team.

• Prior to this term, Mario Balotelli scored five goals in 11 UEFA Europa League fixtures, for Manchester City and Liverpool.

• Balotelli and on-loan Salzburg defender André Wisdom were team-mates at Anfield from 2014–15, though the latter was out on loan that season.

• Jonatan Soriano is Salzburg's all-time top scorer in UEFA competition, taking his total to 25 for the club with a strike on matchday two.

• Former team-mates:
Wanderson (Salzburg) & Julien Vercauteren (Nice) – Lierse, 2013–14

The coaches
• A midfielder – and later youth coach – at Barcelona, Salzburg's Spanish boss Óscar García has managed abroad with Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Brighton & Hove Albion and Watford. He guided Salzburg to the Austrian title in his first campaign in charge in 2015/16.

• Lucien Favre was appointed Nice coach this summer. Twice a championship winner with Zürich in his native Switzerland, he made a positive impression in Germany with Hertha Berlin and Mönchengladbach. He was capped 24 times as a midfielder.

• This is Favre's 50th game as a coach in UEFA club competition.