AZ to take Benfica test

AZ Alkmaar will look to keep a fourth consecutive clean sheet against Portuguese opponents as last season's beaten UEFA Europa League finalists continue their push towards the Turin decider.

Previous meetings
• The sides are meeting for the first time in UEFA competition.

• AZ's five games against Portuguese opponents have ended W3 D1 L1 (W2 D1 L0 at home – W1 D0 L1 in Portugal). They have not lost in their last four encounters with Liga opponents, or conceded in the last three.

• Benfica's record in 21 meetings with Dutch clubs is W8 D8 L5 (W7 D1 L2 in Lisbon – W1 D6 L2 in the Netherlands). Those overall fixtures include two matches on neutral territory – a 0-0 draw against PSV Eindhoven in the 1988 European Champion Clubs' Cup final (Benfica lost the game 6-5 on penalties) and a 3-0 defeat by AFC Ajax in a 1968/69 European Cup quarter-final replay.

• Benfica have not won in their last seven away games against Dutch opponents (two defeats followed by five draws – including successive 2-2s in their last four visits) since a 3-1 triumph at Ajax on 2 February 1969. They also lost 2-1 to Chelsea FC in Amsterdam in last season's UEFA Europa League final, making it eight visits to the Netherlands without a win.

• However, Benfica have won their last five games at home against Dutch opponents – with all three victories since the turn of the millennium by margins of two goals or more.

Match background
• AZ are the only quarter-finalists who made it through the group stage who remain unbeaten in ten UEFA Europa League games this season (W5 D5: W3 D2 L0 at home – W2 D3 L0 away). They have drawn more games than any other side in this term's competiton.

• All four surviving teams that crossed over from the UEFA Champions League – Juventus, Benfica, FC Basel 1893 and FC Porto – are yet to lose in their four games.

• AZ last reached the quarter-finals in 2011/12, bowing out to Valencia CF, having also come unstuck at the same stage – against SV Werder Bremen – in the 2006/07 competition. They last made it to the semi-finals in 2004/05, losing to Sporting Clube de Portugal, and were beaten by Ipswich Town FC in the 1980/81 UEFA Cup final.

• Benfica eliminated Newcastle United FC at this stage last season en route to a UEFA Europa League final defeat against Chelsea. They are in the quarter-finals of this competition for the fourth time in five seasons; they got no further in 2009/10, but reached the semi-finals in 2010/11 and the final in 2012/13.

Team facts
• Benfica have loaned their Dutch striker Ola John to Hamburger SV for the remainder of the season, but have two other players with Eredivisie experience: midfielders Miralem Sulejmani (sc Heerenveen 2007–08, Ajax 2008–13) and Filip Djuričić (Heerenveen 2010–13).

• AZ defender Jeffrey Gouweleeuw and midfielder Viktor Elm played alongside Djuričić at Heerenveen (2010–13), while AZ midfielder Roy Beerens was a team-mate of both at the same club (2007–11).

• Along with Basel and Olympique Lyonnais, AZ are one of three sides in the quarter-finals yet to win a major UEFA trophy.

• AZ have conceded the most fouls in this season's competiton – 154 since the start of the group stage.

• AZ's Serbian midfielder Nemanja Gudelj is the only player left in the competition who has featured in all 900 minutes since the start of the group stage. He has also committed the most fouls of any player left in the tournament (22).

• Benfica's Eduardo Salvio made his 37th UEFA Europa League appearance in the 2-2 round of 16 second-leg draw against Tottenham Hotspur FC – a competition record. He previously shared the honour with Ola Toivonen.

• The competition's two most successful member associations this season, Spain and Portugal, boast two surviving clubs apiece, with Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland and France taking one team through.

Coach information
• Dick Advocaat was named AZ coach on 16 October, returning to the club where he spent five months in charge at the end of 2009/10. Twice Netherlands coach, he won the 2007/08 UEFA Cup with FC Zenit, as well as national titles with PSV Eindhoven (1997/98), Rangers FC (1998/99, 1999/2000) and Zenit (2007).

• Advocaat is the only man in the quarter-finals who has won this competition as a coach, though Juventus boss Antonio Conte lifted the UEFA Cup as a player.

• Benfica coach Jorge Jesus followed in his father Jesus Virgolino's footsteps by signing for Sporting as a youngster and was a journeyman midfielder before moving into coaching. He took charge of a number of Portuguese clubs and was given the Benfica job in June 2009 after leading SC Braga to the last 16 of the 2008/09 UEFA Cup. He guided the Eagles to the title in his first campaign and to the final of last season's UEFA Europa League.