Fiorentina v Mönchengladbach background

Borussia Mönchengladbach will take heart from the 3-1 and 2-0 away victories they registered in the UEFA Champions League earlier this season as they seek to overturn a 1-0 home defeat by Fiorentina in the round of 32.  

• Federico Bernardeschi marked his 23rd birthday by scoring a fine free-kick in the first leg of this UEFA Europa League tie on 16 February.

Previous meetings
• The clubs met for the first time in the opening leg of this tie.

• Fiorentina have won three of their 11 meetings with German teams (W3 D3 L5 – W2 D2 L1 at home).

• Gladbach's record in 15 matches against Italian sides is W4 D7 L4 (W2 D2 L3 in Italy).

Form guide
• A 3-2 loss to PAOK on matchday five ended the Viola's four-game unbeaten home run in Europe (W3 D1).

• Gladbach's four European away games this season have ended W2 L2; two wins by two-goal margins (against Young Boys and Celtic) and two 4-0 defeats.

• European Cup Winners' Cup winners in 1961, Fiorentina were losing UEFA Cup finalists in 1990. They reached last season's round of 32, where they were beaten by Tottenham Hotspur.

• UEFA Cup winners in 1975 and 1979, Gladbach last reached the round of 32 in 2014/15, when they lost to Sevilla.

Federico Bernardeschi scores the only goal of the first leg©Getty Images

Links and trivia
• The journey from Monchengladbach to Florence is around 900km.

• Fiorentina hit the woodwork five times during the group stage – more than any other side – with Bernardeschi denied by the frame of the goal twice.

• Gladbach (1975, 1979) are one of seven former UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League winners in the round of 32 along with Tottenham (1972, 1984), Anderlecht (1983), Ajax (1992), Schalke (1997), Zenit (2008) and Shakhtar Donetsk (2009).

• Fiorentina's Milan Badelj (Hamburg 2012–14) has Bundesliga experience.

Fiorentina coach Paulo Sousa on the touchline in Germany©Getty Images

The coaches
• A European champion as a player with Juventus (1996) and Borussia Dortmund (1997), former Portugal midfielder Paulo Sousa joined Fiorentina in June 2015, fresh from landing the 2013/14 Israeli crown with Maccabi Tel-Aviv and the 2014/15 Swiss championship with Basel.

• Dieter Hecking took command at Gladbach in December 2016, replacing André Schubert. He started his playing career as a midfielder at the club. He has coached in the Bundesliga with Alemannia Aachen, Hannover, Nürnberg and most recently Wolfsburg, from December 2012 to October 2016.

Penalty shoot-outs
• Fiorentina's record in five UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W3 L2:
L 4-2 H v Rangers (2007/08 UEFA Cup semi-finals)
W 4-2 A v Everton (2007/08 UEFA Cup round of 16)
W 4-3 H v Groningen (2007/08 UEFA Cup first round)
W 3-1 H v Atlético (1989/90 UEFA Cup first round)
L 3-1 A v Boavista (1986/87 UEFA Cup first round)

• Gladbach lost their only previous UEFA penalty shoot-out:
L 4-3 A v Everton (1970/71 European Champion Clubs' Cup second round)