Rijeka v Feyenoord background

HNK Rijeka will be feeling optimistic at their picturesque Stadion Kantrida home as they welcome a Feyenoord side with shaky away form in UEFA Europa League Group G.

Form guide
• Rijeka's 2-2 draw against UEFA Europa League holders Sevilla FC on matchday two extended their unbeaten home run in Europe to ten games (W6 D4); Feyenoord have not won in nine European away matches (D1 L8) since a 2-1 success at Kalmar FF in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup first round.

• The record of Croatian clubs in 20 fixtures against Dutch sides in UEFA competition is W6 D4 L10. The Dutch teams have won five of the last six since GNK Dinamo Zagreb beat NEC Nijmegen 3-2 in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup group stage – with the other game ending in a goalless draw.

• Five matches have passed since a Croatian club scored against Dutch opposition (AFC Ajax's 2-1 success against Dinamo Zagreb in the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League group stage).

Trivia and links
• Rijeka are one of only four teams left in the competition who entered this season's UEFA Europa League in the second qualifying round, along with FC Krasnodar, FC Dinamo Minsk and Asteras Tripolis FC.

• Rijeka and ŠK Slovan Bratislava could both match FC Steaua Bucureşti and PFC CSKA Sofia's record wait of nine games for a first UEFA Europa League group stage victory if they fail to prevail on matchday three.

The coaches
• Hired in February 2013, Rijeka coach Matjaž Kek led his native Slovenia to the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals. Kek started and ended his playing career as a defender at NK Maribor – where his father and son also played – either side of a long spell in Austria, and returned there to begin his coaching career.

• Feyenoord coach Fred Rutten was a defender for FC Twente, and coached the club in two spells before heading abroad to join FC Schalke 04 in 2008. He returned to the Netherlands the following year and spent nearly three years in charge at PSV Eindhoven and then a season with Vitesse, taking up his current post in March 2014.