Rosenborg v Leipzig facts

Norwegian champions Rosenborg and 2017/18 UEFA Europa League quarter-finalists RB Leipzig go head to head in Trondheim with ground to make up in Group B after matchday one defeats against, respectively, Celtic (0-1 away) and Salzburg (2-3 at home).

Previous meetings
• The teams have never met, and Leipzig are yet to face Norwegian opposition in Europe.

• Rosenborg have won only once in 12 matches against German clubs and never in Trondheim, where their record is D3 L3, the defeats having come in the three most recent encounters. They have lost four out of four UEFA Europa League matches against Bundesliga opposition – all of them to Bayer Leverkusen, including two 0-1 defeats at home.

Form guide
Rosenborg
• A record 25th Norwegian title in 2017 earned Rosenborg a place in this season's UEFA Champions League qualifying phase. After going out to Celtic they won all four of their UEFA Europa League qualifiers against Cork City and Shkëndija to secure a second successive season in the group stage.

• Rosenborg finished third in their UEFA Europa League group last season – behind Zenit and Real Sociedad – and have yet to progress into the knockout phase in four attempts. Indeed their last 12 European group stage participations across all competitions have been unsuccessful.

• The Trondheim club are undefeated at home in Europe this term (W3 D1) and have scored three goals in five of their last eight UEFA home fixtures, emerging victorious in each case. They have won just two of their nine UEFA Europa League group games on Norwegian soil, however, losing five.

Leipzig
• Leipzig finished sixth in the 2017/18 Bundesliga to make it two European qualifications in a row, their debut continental campaign having ended in the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals – eliminated by Marseille – after they finished third in their UEFA Champions League group.

• Having defeated Häcken of Sweden and Romania's Universitatea Craiova in the first two qualifying rounds this season, Leipzig needed a last-gasp penalty from Emil Forsberg to win their play-off 3-2 on aggregate against Ukrainian club Zorya Luhansk.

• Leipzig drew all three of their away matches in this season's UEFA Europa League qualifying phase. Their away record in two seasons of European competition is W2 D4 L3.

Links and trivia 
• Rosenborg's Niklas Bendtner and Leipzig's Yussuf Poulsen – a scorer on matchday one against Salzburg – have played together for Denmark.

• Bendtner played for German club Wolfsburg in 2014/15 and 2015/16 and was on the winning side in a German Cup tie against Leipzig (2-0). His Rosenborg team-mate Even Hoflund played four times for Nürnberg against Leipzig in the 2. Bundesliga, winning twice and losing twice.

The coaches
• A defender who played for Go Ahead Eagles, Heracles, De Graafschap and AZ Alkmaar in his native Netherlands, Rini Coolen has over 20 years of coaching experience, albeit mostly as an assistant. Before taking over as Rosenborg's interim boss in July 2018 following the dismissal of Kåre Ingebrigtsen, his last head coach role had been a brief stint at the helm of the Aruba national team in 2015. He has also worked in Australia and Dubai.

• Ralf Rangnick returned as RB Leipzig coach in the summer of 2018, having held the position in 2015/16 when he led the club into the Bundesliga. He has been the club's sporting director since 2012, his appointment having come after a premature departure from Schalke, where he was working for the second time following a highly successful sojourn at Hoffenheim during which he secured back-to-back promotions. He is set to be replaced as Leipzig coach by current Hoffenheim boss Julian Nagelsmann in 2019.