APOEL v Young Boys background
Monday, October 24, 2016
Article summary
APOEL lost 3-1 at Young Boys on matchday three but are still enjoying their best start to a UEFA group stage campaign as they welcome the Swiss side in Group B.
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APOEL's UEFA Europa League Group B flush was busted by Young Boys on matchday three, but the Cypriot champions have cause for optimism as the sides reconvene.
Previous meetings
• APOEL took the lead but lost 3-1 when the teams met for the first time in UEFA competition on 20 October.
• APOEL also lost both of their previous European encounters with Swiss teams, resulting in a 6-1 aggregate defeat by Servette in the 1984/85 European Cup Winners' Cup.
• Young Boys have now won all three of their UEFA fixtures against Cypriot clubs, conceding just once in the process.
Form guide
• APOEL are unbeaten in four European home games this season (W3 D1) and this remains their most successful start to a UEFA group stage; their previous best was five points at the midway stage of their 2011/12 UEFA Champions League tilt.
• Young Boys are without a win in six UEFA away games, but ended a run of five straight defeats (in which they had conceded 18 goals) with a 0-0 draw at Astana on matchday two.
• APOEL have failed to get to the round of 32 in both of their past UEFA Europa League group stage forays.
• Young Boys have progressed successfully through two of their previous three UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns.
Links and trivia
• The journey from Berne to Nicosia is around 2,500km.
• Guillaume Hoarau's treble against APOEL on matchday three was the first hat-trick of the 2016/17 group stage. He is one of seven players who top this season's scorers' chart with three goals along with Giuliano (Zenit), Nikola Kalinić (Fiorentina), Joãozinho (Krasnodar), Leon Bailey (Genk), Aleksandar Kokorin (Zenit) and Khouma Babacar (Fiorentina).
• Young Boys committed 69 fouls in the first three matchdays – six more than any other side in this season's competition.
• APOEL midfielder Renan Bressan turns 28 on the day of the game.
The coaches
• APOEL's Danish-born coach Thomas Christiansen was once a trainee at Barcelona, playing in their 1992 UEFA Super Cup success, and also scored once in two appearances for Spain. He joined APOEL this summer after two promising seasons as AEK Larnaca boss.
• Adi Hütter took command at Young Boys in September 2015, having steered Salzburg to a domestic double in his native Austria in his sole campaign in charge in 2014/15. He had spent the bulk of his career as a midfielder at the Salzburg outfit, returning as a youth specialist after retirement.
