Birmingham bid for Club Brugge repeat

After their matchday three victory, Birmingham City FC are well placed to reach the UEFA Europa League knockout stage as they prepare to play Club Brugge KV again in Group H. Previous meetings • Birmingham won 2-1 when the sides met for the first time in UEFA competition on matchday three. The game also represented Birmingham's first UEFA tie with a Belgian team. • Chris Wood scored ten minutes into added time to make Birmingham the first English side to win at Club Brugge in eight attempts. Joseph Akpala (3) had put the home side in front, but David Murphy (26) drew the Blues level, before Wood's (90+10) last gasp winner secured all three points for the visitors. • The lengthy added time was due to a long stoppage during the second half, after Pablo Ibáñez was carried off following a clash of heads with Joseph Akpala. • The victory was only Birmingham's second away win in UEFA competition. • The Blues took on R. Union Saint-Gilloise in the 1959 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup semi-finals, the non-UEFA affiliated precursor to the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League. They won 4-2 away and at home. • Club Brugge have now played 17 games against English sides, with a record of W6 D2 L9 (W0 D1 L8 in England). They lost to Liverpool FC in the two-legged 1976 UEFA Cup final and 1-0 against the same side in the 1978 European Champion Clubs' Cup final, which was staged in London. • Birmingham boss Chris Hughton came up against Club Brugge as a Tottenham Hotspur FC player in the 1984/85 UEFA Cup second round; his side lost 2-1 in Bruges but won the return fixture 3-0 at White Hart Lane. Match background • The 2010/11 English League Cup finalists, Birmingham lost their first UEFA home game on matchday one, going down 3-1 to SC Braga. They had beaten CD Nacional 3-0 in their UEFA Europa League debut at St Andrew's in the play-offs. • Club Brugge's 2-1 win at Braga on matchday two ended a five-game wait for a European away win, and secured them only their second victory in 13 UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage away games, with their overall record W2 D7 L4. Team facts • Akpala has had eight shots on goal in the first three matchdays, more than any other player in the group stage. He has scored twice. • Between 1956 and 1962, Birmingham went unbeaten through 12 home games (ten wins and two draws) in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. The run included two victories over FC Internazionale Milano and one against FC Barcelona. • Birmingham's Chilean midfielder Jean Beausejour spent the 2006/07 season in Belgium with KAA Gent but left without making a senior appearance. • Club Brugge's Dutch defender Ryan Donk was loaned to Birmingham's West Midlands rivals West Bromwich Albion FC in the 2008/09 season. • The Belgian side's defender Carl Hoefkens spent four seasons in England, with Stoke City FC (2005-07) and West Brom (2007-09), playing in a draw and two defeats against the Blues. • Club Brugge midfielder Jonathan Blondel spent two seasons at Tottenham Hotspur from 2002, but made just two league appearances – both as a substitute. • Club Brugge coach Adrie Koster was dismissed on 30 October after a run of four straight defeats in all competitions. The Dutchman had been in charge since April 2009. The 56-year-old's assistant Rudi Verkempinck and reserve-team coach Philippe Clement have been placed in temporary charge. • Chris Hughton replaced Alex McLeish as Birmingham coach in June following their relegation from the Premier League. The London-born former Irish international left-back spent the bulk of his playing career at Tottenham (1977-90), where he also started coaching. His first senior role came at Newcastle United FC from 2009 to 2010.