Partizan v Young Boys background

Partizan go into their UEFA Europa League Group B encounter with Young Boys knowing that a home win will guarantee their passage through to the round of 32, bringing them springtime European football for the first time in 13 years.

• Partizan will go through if they win regardless of the Skënderbeu-Dynamo Kyiv result due to their head-to-head superiority over Skënderbeu.

• Although yet to post a victory in the section, Young Boys still have plenty to play for as a win in Belgrade will lift them above Partizan into second place with one matchday remaining. They are out if they lose.

Previous meetings
• The teams' first meeting in UEFA competition, at the Stade de Suisse on matchday one, ended with the points shared as a goal apiece in the first 14 minutes – Christian Fassnacht equalising for Young Boys shortly after Marko Janković had put Partizan ahead – led to a 1-1 draw.

• In their only encounters with Serbian opposition prior to that, Young Boys were eliminated by Crvena zvezda in the 2004/05 UEFA Champions League second qualifying round – drawing 2-2 at home but losing 3-0 in Belgrade.

• Partizan were knocked out of the 2013/14 UEFA Europa League play-offs by Swiss opponents, following up a 1-0 victory against Thun with a 3-0 loss in Switzerland. Young Boys' Sékou Sanogo featured in both legs for Thun.

Form guide
• Partizan's 2-0 win at home to Skënderbeu on matchday four was only their third in 14 UEFA Europa League group games on home soil (D4 L7).

• Swiss Super League runners-up last term, Young Boys have failed to win any of their last six European matches (D3 L3).

• Serbian league and cup winners in 2016/17, Partizan have reached the UEFA Europa League group stage for the fifth time in the competition's current incarnation, but they are yet to progress to the round of 32. Indeed, they have been unsuccessful in their last seven UEFA group stages since reaching the knockout phase of the UEFA Cup in 2004/05.

• Beaten home and away by CSKA Moskva in the UEFA Champions League play-offs, Young Boys are contesting the UEFA Europa League group stage for a fifth time. They have made it through twice in four attempts – in 2010/11 and 2014/15.

Links and trivia
• The journey from Berne to Belgrade is just over 1,000km.

• Partizan's Everton Bilher played in Switzerland with Lugano (2013–14) and St Gallen (2014–16).

• Partizan's Nemanja Antonov is on loan from another Swiss side, Grasshoppers, where he arrived in 2015.

• Young Boys' Miralem Sulejmani started his career at Partizan but made just one brief substitute appearance in November 2005 before being signed by Heerenveen.

• Zoran Tošić, who opened the scoring for Partizan at home to Skënderbeu on matchday four, sits out this encounter through suspension.

• Suspended for next match if booked: Ognjen Ožegović, Leandre Tawamba (Partizan); Christian Fassnacht (Young Boys).

The coaches
• Miroslav Djukić was assigned a second stint as Partizan coach in June 2017, having previously been in charge in 2007. The 48-times capped Yugoslavia sweeper played in Spain with Deportivo and Valencia, and spent much of the last decade coaching there too.

• Austrian coach Adi Hütter has been in charge of Young Boys since September 2015. A midfielder who spent the bulk of his career with Salzburg, he returned to lead the club to a domestic double in 2014/15 after managerial spells at Altach and Grödig.