Standard v Krasnodar background

Standard Liège play host in UEFA Europa League Group J to a Krasnodar side that top the table with maximum points, both clubs having won 2-1 at home on matchday two.

• Standard recovered from an opening 5-1 defeat at Sevilla to beat European debutants Akhisar in Liege, while Krasnodar made it two wins out of two with a famous comeback win against the three-time UEFA Europa League winners in Russia to add to an opening 1-0 victory in Turkey.

Previous meetings
• The teams have never previously met, and this is Krasnodar's first UEFA fixture against a Belgian club.

• Standard have won only one of their six games against Russian opposition and were defeated home (0-1) and away (0-3) in their most recent tie, a UEFA Champions League play-off against Zenit in August 2014. Their home record is W1 D1 L1.

Form guide
Standard
• Standard enjoyed a fruitful 2017/18 season, finishing runners-up in the Belgian league and winning an eighth domestic cup. Their hopes of a first UEFA Champions League group campaign in nine years ended at the hands of Ajax in this season's third qualifying round – their point of entry – with a 5-2 aggregate defeat, sending them instead into the UEFA Europa League group stage.

• The Liege club have competed in the UEFA Europa League group stage in four previous campaigns, but have only once made further progress, back in 2011/12, when they went on to the round of 16. They were quarter-finalists in the inaugural 2009/10 season after switching over mid-campaign from the UEFA Champions League.

• Standard's win against Akhisar was only their third at home in 13 UEFA Europa League group stage matches (D5 L5). They drew all three games in Liege – against Celta Vigo, Panathinaikos and Ajax – on their last participation, in 2016/17, and are now unbeaten in seven European home fixtures (W3 D4).

Krasnodar
• Since making their European debut in the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League Krasnodar have qualified for the competition every season since, failing to make the group stage only in 2017/18, when they lost a play-off to Crvena zvezda on away goals. Fourth place in last season's Russian Premier League secured their group stage berth this term.

• Krasnodar were unable to progress from their group at the first attempt, in 2014/15, but succeeded in both of the following two seasons, lasting until the round of 32 in 2015/16 and the round of 16 in 2016/17.

• Victorious in five of their last six European outings, the Russian club have won one of their three away fixtures in each of their previous UEFA Europa League group campaigns – against Everton (1-0) in 2014/15, Gabala (3-0) in 2015/16 and Salzburg (1-0) in 2016/17. Their overall away record in the competition, excluding qualifying, is W4 D3 L6.

Links and trivia 
• Krasnodar's Brazilian-born midfielder Wanderson started his senior career in Belgium with Beerschot and Lierse. His father Wamberto had two spells at Standard, the second, from 2004–06, at a time when current Standard coach Michel Preud'homme was the club's technical director.

• Three Standard players have played in Russia – Mehdi Carcela (Anji 2011–13), Réginal Goreux (Rostov 2014/15) and Maxime Lestienne (Rubin Kazan 2016–18).

The coaches
• A former goalkeeper who played 58 times for Belgium, Michel Preud'homme started out with Standard, winning two league titles before making further waves with Mechelen, notably in their European Cup Winners' Cup triumph of 1988/89. He has enjoyed similar success as a coach, winning trophies with every club he has managed, most recently the 2015/16 Belgian league with Club Brugge. This is his third spell in charge at Standard.

• An FC Krasnodar man through and through, Murad Musaev made his mark by leading the club's Under-19s to the knockout phase of the 2017/18 UEFA Youth League, where they were only eliminated on penalties by Real Madrid in front of a competition record crowd. That achievement helped him land the position of caretaker coach to the senior side following Igor Shalimov's dismissal in early April 2018. His position as the club's new head coach was subsequently confirmed during the summer.