Sevilla v Qarabağ facts

With victories in each of their opening four Group A fixtures, Sevilla are already through to the round of 32 as section winners, while visitors Qarabağ, eight points behind them in third place, remain in contention for the runners-up spot.

• Sevilla beat Dudelange 3-0 at home and 5-2 in Luxembourg to clinch first place with two games to spare, but there was a setback for Qarabağ on Matchday 4 as they surrendered a half-time lead to lose 2-1 at APOEL, with whom they had shared a 2-2 draw a fortnight earlier in Baku. The champions of Azerbaijan are level on four points with their Cypriot counterparts, one ahead of Dudelange, but their inferior head-to-head record will eliminate them if they lose in Seville and APOEL win in Luxembourg.

Previous meetings
• Three second-half goals, from Javier Hernández, Munir and Óliver Torres, enabled Sevilla to kick off their Group A campaign with a 3-0 win against Qarabağ in Baku.

• Sevilla had never previously faced a club from Azerbaijan in UEFA competition, but Qarabağ have happier memories of their only other two encounters with a Spanish club, having drawn both matches against Atlético Madrid (0-0 h, 1-1 a) in the group stage of the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League – their only two points in the section.

Form guide
Sevilla
• Sevilla played 16 UEFA Europa League matches last season, progressing from the second qualifying round to the round of 16, where they were dramatically eliminated by Slavia Praha after a 4-3 extra-time defeat in the Czech capital. Sevilla had topped Group J with 12 points, scoring 18 goals – the most in the group stage.

• The Andalusian club re-qualified for this competition by finishing sixth in the 2018/19 Liga, which assured them an automatic group stage berth and a fifth appearance at this juncture. They have never failed to go through to the round of 32, this being the third time that they have progressed as group winners.

• Sevilla had won 18 successive UEFA Europa League matches at home to non-Spanish opposition, qualifying included, before drawing 2-2 against Slavia last season. Their group stage record in Seville is W10 D3 L1, with no defeats in the last 13, victories in all of the last eight and clean sheets in the last four.

Qarabağ
• Qarabağ were crowned champions of Azerbaijan for the sixth season running in 2018/19 – and seventh overall – having finished eight points clear of runners-up Neftçi. They also made it to a fifth successive European group stage, in the UEFA Europa League, but lost five of their six matches.

• This season, as in 2018/19, Qarabağ began their European journey in the UEFA Champions League first qualifying round but were eliminated two rounds later by APOEL (2-1 a, 0-2 h) before an away-goals win against Linfield in the UEFA Europa League play-offs (2-3 a, 2-1 h). They have never extended their European involvement into the spring.

• Qarabağ's record outside Azerbaijan in the UEFA Europa League group stage is W4 D1 L9, two of those wins having come in their last four matches.

Links and trivia 
• With five goals, including a hat-trick at Dudelange last time out – the first in the UEFA Europa League by a Sevilla player – Munir is the leading scorer in this season's group stage.

• Sevilla and Qarabağ are both appearing in European competition for the seventh season in a row, having last been absent in 2012/13.

• There are three Spanish nationals in Qarabağ's squad – midfield trio Míchel, Jaime Romero and Dani Quintana.

• Sevilla are the only team to have won all four group fixtures to date in this season's UEFA Europa League.

• The Spanish club, who lifted the trophy three years running from 2013/14–2015/16, are one of three former UEFA Europa League winners in this season's group stage; Porto and Manchester United are the others.

• Sevilla have scored 118 goals in the UEFA Europa League, group stage to final. They need six more to equal Villarreal’s competition record.

• Qarabağ lost 2-1 at Sumqayıt last Friday – their first domestic league defeat since October 2018, ending an unbeaten streak of 31 matches (W23 D8).

The coaches
• Sevilla appointed Julen Lopetegui as their head coach on a three-year contract in June 2019, the former goalkeeper returning to duty in the Spanish Liga after a brief spell in charge of Real Madrid had swiftly ended in October 2018. A highly successful stint with Spain's youth selections brought European titles with the Under-19s in 2012 and U21s the following year. He had 18 months at Porto before taking charge of the senior Spain side and qualifying them for the 2018 FIFA World Cup, only to be dismissed on the eve of the tournament.

• Qarabağ boss Gurban Gurbanov is Azerbaijan's highest-scoring international with 12 goals in 64 matches. While he regularly changed club as a player, he celebrated 11 years as head coach of Qarabağ in August 2019, during which time he has led the club to six successive national league titles, four Azerbaijani Cups and European group stage involvement in each of the last six seasons, including a maiden UEFA Champions League adventure in 2017/18. He doubled up as the coach of Azerbaijan from January to December 2018.