Krasnodar v Trabzonspor facts

Krasnodar got their ambitions of reaching the UEFA Europa League knockout phase for the fourth time back on track with a 2-0 win away to Trabzonspor on Matchday 3 that brought them their first points in Group C. Having moved above the Turkish side in the standings with goals from Marcus Berg and Tonny Vilhena, they will hope to further improve their position with a repeat triumph on home terrain, where they are overdue a positive result in Europe.

• Krasnodar, who reached the round of 16 last season, badly needed that win in Turkey having previously fallen to a 5-0 defeat at Basel and lost 1-2 at home to Getafe. Trabzonspor's sole point so far came from a draw 2-2 at home to Basel on Matchday 2 following an opening 1-0 loss in Spain.

Previous meetings
• Krasnodar are now unbeaten in five games against Turkish sides, all in the UEFA Europa League (W4 D1). Their two home fixtures have both ended in victory – 1-0 versus Fenerbahçe in the 2016/17 round of 32, Viktor Claesson heading in the winner four minutes into his club debut, and 2-1 against Akhisar Belediyespor in last season's group stage, with Yuri Gazinski and Ari on target.

• Trabzonspor have not scored on their two previous visits to Russia, losing 3-0 against CSKA Moskva in the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League – their only defeat on their debut appearance in the group stage of that competition – and drawing 0-0 at Rostov (to seal a 2-0 aggregate success) in their 2014/15 UEFA Europa League play-off.

Form guide
Krasnodar
• Since making their European debut in the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League, Krasnodar have participated in the competition every season, just once (in 2017/18) failing to reach the group stage. Third place in the 2018/19 Russian Premier League put them into this season's UEFA Champions League qualifying round, where they memorably defeated Porto on away goals (0-1 h, 3-2 a), but were then well beaten in the play-offs by Olympiacos (0-4 a, 1-2 h).

• Krasnodar were unable to progress from their UEFA Europa League group at the first attempt, in 2014/15, but have succeeded in each of their last three participations, reaching the round of 16 in both 2016/17 and 2018/19, when only a late goal conceded at home to Valencia (1-2 a, 1-1 h) denied them a first ever European quarter-final.

• The Russian club are without a win in their last five European home games (D2 L3), losing all three of this season's encounters against Porto, Olympiacos and Getafe. They did, however, win all three home group fixtures last term, their all-time record in the group stage now standing at W7 D3 L3.

Trabzonspor
• A fourth-placed finish in the 2018/19 Turkish Süper Lig restored European football to Trabzonspor after four years – the club's longest absence from the continental stage since a five-year gap from 1998/99 to 2003/04.

• This season the Black Sea club beat Sparta Praha in the third qualifying round (2-2 a, 2-1 h) before overcoming AEK Athens on away goals in the play-offs (3-1 a, 0-2 h). Their two previous UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns, in 2013/14 and 2014/15, both proved productive before they fell to heavyweight Italian opposition in the round of 32 – respectively Juventus (0-2 a, 0-2 h) and Napoli (0-4 h, 0-1 a).

• Trabzonspor have a positive away record in the UEFA Europa League group stage of W3 D2 L2, although the defeats have come in their last two fixtures

Links and trivia 
• Manuel Fernandes (Krasnodar) and João Pereira (Trabzonspor) are former Benfica and Portugal team-mates. The former played in Turkey for Beşiktaş from 2011–14.

• Trabzonspor's Czech international left-back Filip Novák played alongside Krasnodar's Swedish midfielder Kristoffer Olsson with Danish club Midtjylland in 2015/16 and the first half of 2016/17.

• Trabzonspor striker Daniel Sturridge's next European appearance will be his 50th.

The coaches
• Sergei Matveev played as a midfielder for various amateur and lower-league clubs before becoming a coach in 2004. He worked for almost ten years with various clubs in the Moscow area, having also had a spell at the Dinamo Moskva academy. From 2013 to 2016 he was on the coaching staff of the Russian football federation, working in the youth sector, and was recruited by Krasnodar in 2019 after obtaining his UEFA Pro coaching licence in order to work in tandem with Murad Musaev.

• A former Turkish international midfielder with 36 caps, Ünal Karaman won more than half of those – plus two Turkish Cups – while playing for Trabzonspor from 1990–99. After ending his playing days at Ankaragücü, he joined the Turkish federation's coaching staff and was in charge of the Under-21 side before moving into club football with home-town team Konyaspor. Three years as assistant back at Trabzonspor under Şenol Güneş preceded further roles elsewhere before he returned to the Black Sea club as head coach in May 2018.