Genk v Astra Giurgiu background
Friday, February 17, 2017
Article summary
Genk will put their perfect home record in continental competition this term on the line when they take on an Astra Giurgiu side who fought back to equalise twice in the first leg.
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Astra Giurgiu's decent away form in UEFA competition this season will give them reason for encouragement as they head into the second leg of their UEFA Europa League round of 32 tie against Genk with the score level at 2-2.
• Genk led twice in the first leg on 16 February but ultimately had to settle for a draw after Takayuki Seto headed Astra's second equaliser of the night in the 90th minute.
Previous meetings
• The clubs' first game was also Astra's first encounter with a Belgian side and Genk's maiden meeting with Romanian opponents.
Form guide
• Genk have won all six of their European home fixtures this season, conceding just once in the process.
• Astra have won their last two UEFA away fixtures by the same scoreline, 2-1, and also triumphed by the odd goal at West Ham United in the play-offs.
• Genk are in the round of 32 for a third time but have never made it further. Most recently, they lost to Anji at this stage in 2013/14. They have yet to win a springtime UEFA match (D3 L2).
• This is Astra's fourth – and most successful – season in UEFA competition; they failed to make it through the group stage in their only previous attempt, in 2014/15.
Links and trivia
• The journey from Giurgiu to Genk is around 2,100km.
• This is Genk's 50th game in the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League.
• Astra goalkeeper Silviu Lung – son of the Silviu Lung who played in goal for Romania from 1979-93 – has played in all 35 of his club's UEFA club competition games.
• Astra are one of eight domestic champions involved in the round of 32, along with: Ludogorets Razgrad (BUL), APOEL (CYP), København (DEN), Olympiacos (GRE), Hapoel Beer-Sheva (ISR), Legia Warszawa (POL) and Beşiktaş (TUR).
• Genk and Osmanlıspor are the only sides to have made it from the second qualifying round of this season's competition to the round of 32; APOEL, Hapoel Beer-Sheva, Legia, Ludogorets and København have had similarly long campaigns, having started out in the equivalent round of the UEFA Champions League.
The coaches
• Peter Maes took Genk to the round of 32 but was dismissed in late December after a disappointing run of league results.
• Genk's new boss is Albert Stuivenberg. Once a Feyenoord trainee, he later ran the club's academy, and led the Netherlands to UEFA European Under-17 Championship successes in 2011 and 2012. He was Louis van Gaal's assistant at Manchester United from 2014–16.
• Marius Șumudică steered Astra to a maiden Romanian title in 2015/16, having previously won the league as a player with Rapid Bucureşti in 1998/99. He played in Portugal, Hungary and Cyprus as a striker, and has coached in Greece and the United Arab Emirates.