Rosenborg out to break Leverkusen duck

Eliminated Rosenborg BK will look to put their three past meetings with Bayer 04 Leverkusen down to experience as the teams meet again in UEFA Europa League Group K.

Group K permutations
• FC Metalist Kharkiv are through as group winners due to their superior head-to-head over Leverkusen.

• Leverkusen are through as runners-up.

• Rosenborg and SK Rapid Wien are out.

Previous meetings
• Leverkusen won 1-0 in Trondheim when the sides met on matchday two, though there was a touch of luck about substitute Stefan Kiessling's 76th-minute winner, Sidney Sam's powerful attempt cannoning off his chest and past the stranded Daniel Örlund.

• It was the sides' third meeting, and the third time that Leverkusen had beaten Rosenborg without conceding.

• Jupp Heynckes' Leverkusen beat a Rosenborg side coached by Nils Arne Eggen 4-0 at home and 1-0 away in the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League group stage.

• The teams for their first meeting on 16 September 2010, when Patrick Helmes scored a hat-trick at the BayArena, were:
Leverkusen: Adler, Schwaab*, Reinartz*, Hyypiä, Friedrich*, Bender* (Balitsch 67), Helmes, Sam*, Derdiyok (Vida 78), Castro* (Barnetta 78), Jørgensen.
Rosenborg: Örlund*, Lustig, Dorsin*, Annan, Bjärsmyr, Strand (Sare 56), Demidov, Iversen* (Trond Olsen 79), Skjelbred, Markus Henriksen (Jamtfall 72), Prica*.

• The teams for the return fixture in Trondheim on 1 December 2010 were:
Rosenborg: Örlund*, Lustig, Dorsin*, Annan, Bjärsmyr, Moldskred, Demidov, Iversen*, Skjelbred, Markus Henriksen, Prica*.
Leverkusen: Giefer, Reinartz*, Hyypiä, Friedrich*, Bender*, Helmes (Castro* 85), Balitsch, Vida, Sam* (Kaplan 68), Kadlec*, Jørgensen (Derdiyok 76).
* registered to play in 2012/13

• Sami Hyypiä, who is now in the dug-out at Leverkusen, played in both games.

Match background
• The games against Rosenborg represent all of Leverkusen's experience of Norwegian opposition.

• Rosenborg have played 11 matches against German sides with the record W1 D3 L7 (W0 D3 L3 in Trondheim – W1 D0 L4 in Germany). They have not won in their last nine outings against Bundesliga opponents.

• Leverkusen are engaged in their fourth group stage campaign in this competition, and have never failed to progress to the round of 32. They have not lost in eight group stage home games (W6 D2) since going down 1-0 to Tottenham Hotspur FC in the 2006/07 UEFA Cup.

• Rosenborg and FC Twente are the only clubs who have battled their way to the group stage from the first qualifying round. Neither side will make it to the round of 32.

Team facts
• This is Rosenborg's 200th UEFA club competition game; their record in the previous 199 is W78 D37 L84. They are within five strikes of their 300th European goal.

• Rosenborg defenders Tore Reginiussen (FC Schalke 04) and Jon Inge Høiland (1. FC Kaiserslautern) have both played for German clubs, as has striker Rade Prica (FC Hansa Rostock).

• Team manager Hyypiä leads Leverkusen in collaboration with coach Sascha Lewandowski. Former Finland defender Hyypiä won the 2001 UEFA Cup and the 2005 UEFA Champions League during a ten-year spell at Liverpool FC, moving on to Leverkusen in 2009. After retiring in 2011, Hyypiä took up coaching roles with Leverkusen and Finland and stepped in – initially on a caretaker basis – after the Werkself sacked Robin Dutt in April 2012.

• Rosenborg coach Jan Jönsson was a midfielder at Halmstads BK in his native Sweden from 1978-92, before moving to Japan, where he served as a player and assistant coach under Stuart Baxter at Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Vissel Kobe. He took command at Rosenborg in 2011 following fruitful spells with Landskrona BoIS (2001-04) and Stabæk Fotball (2005-10).