Salzburg v Schalke background

Salzburg and Schalke both know their Group I fates regardless of the outcome of their meeting in Austria, although the home side will be looking to give their fans something to cheer as they bow out of this season's UEFA Europa League.

• With 15 points, Schalke have already won the section and they can join a list of seven teams who have achieved six victories in a UEFA Europa League group stage.

• Salzburg have four points and cannot catch second-placed Krasnodar, although the Austrian club will finish third if they equal or better Nice's matchday six result.

Previous meetings
• Schalke won 3-1 when these sides met on matchday two.

• Salzburg's seven matches against German teams have ended W1 D2 L4 (W1 D1 L1 at home), that lone victory coming at home to Eintracht Frankfurt in the 1993/94 UEFA Cup quarter-finals.

• In their only previous encounters with Austrian opponents, Schalke won 2-0 away and drew 0-0 at home against Kärnten (now Pasching) in a 2003 UEFA Intertoto Cup final.

Form guide
• Salzburg have lost their last three European home games.

• Schalke have the 2016/17 group stage's meanest defence, with just one goal conceded in five matchdays. Schalke, Shakhtar and Zenit are the only sides who have made it to matchday six with five victories.

• Schalke have not lost in 17 group stage fixtures (W13 D4) since the advent of the UEFA Europa League. This season's qualification means the Royal Blues have progressed in four of their five UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns.

• Salzburg have missed out on the round of 32 for just the second time in six UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns.

Links and trivia
• The journey from Gelsenkirchen to Salzburg is around 600km.

• Schalke, Fiorentina and Roma top the unluckiness leaderboard in this season's competition – all have struck the woodwork four times in this group stage.

• Klaas-Jan Huntelaar of Schalke's next goal will be his 50th in UEFA club competition.

• Schalke boast Austrian talent in midfielder Alessandro Schöpf.

• Former team-mates:
Leon Goretzka (Schalke) & Marc Rzatkowski (Salzburg) – Bochum, 2012–13
Dennis Aogo and Sascha Riether (Schalke) & Alexander Walke (Salzburg) – Freiburg, 2005–07

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

• Schalke coach Markus Weinzierl made it to last season's UEFA Europa League round of 32 with Augsburg, whom he had led since 2012. His playing career peaked when he spent a season with the first-team squad at Bayern München in 1998/99, though he never played a senior match.

Chapecoense commemoration
Teams taking part in all of the matchday six UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League fixtures will observe a minute's silence to pay respect to the victims of last week's air disaster involving the Chapecoense team and accompanying delegation.

The Brazilian club lost most of their players and coaching staff in the accident, which occurred in Colombia, where Chapecoense were due to play the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana final against Atlético Nacional.

"European football is united in expressing its deepest sympathy to Chapecoense, the Brazilian Football Confederation [CBF], CONMEBOL and the families of all the victims," said UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin. "This tragedy has shaken the world of football, and we would like to send our support to all of those affected by it."