Nice v Salzburg background

Nice ended a long wait for a first European away win when they visited Salzburg on matchday three, with the Austrian side close to an early exit as the teams meet again in Group I.

• Section leaders Schalke are through with a victory, or if they draw and Nice do not win.

• Salzburg are out if they lose, or if they draw and Krasnodar avoid defeat.

Previous meetings
• The clubs met for the first time in UEFA competition on 20 October, Alessane Pléa scoring the only goal in a 1-0 win for the visitors. It was Nice's first brush with Austrian opposition.

• Nice's 1-0 success was their first genuine away victory in UEFA competition; the only previous match they had won away from Nice was a 5-1 triumph over Fenerbahçe in a European Cup first-round replay – staged on neutral territory in Geneva – in December 1959.

• In their only past 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.

• Gabala and Salzburg are the only teams who have lost all three of their group games this season.

Form guide
• Nice's last four European home fixtures have produced just four goals – a home win, an away win and two draws.

• Salzburg are without a victory in five European matches – a 1-1 draw followed by four straight defeats.

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

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

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

• Nice were the most-fouled side in the first three matchdays with 55 infringements against them.

• 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 France.

• Prior to this term, Mario Balotelli had scored five goals in 11 UEFA Europa League outings, 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 with a strike on matchday two.

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

The coaches
• 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 game is taking place the day after Favre's 59th birthday.

• 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, 2015/16.