Sturm and AEK play for pride

SK Sturm Graz and AEK Athens FC are playing for pride on matchday six with both sides already out of the running for a qualifying berth in UEFA Europa League Group L. • AEK and Shamrock Rovers FC are the only sides yet to pick up a point in the group stage, but the Greek side could steal third place with a win in Austria. Previous meetings • Sturm staged a dramatic fightback to win 2-1 when the sides met on matchday two. Trailing to Joachim Standfest's own goal (50), they rallied following Traianos Dellas's 53rd-minute dismissal, Thomas Burgstaller (87) and Mario Haas (90+2) scoring to win the game. • The sides met in the 1997/98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup second round with Dumitru Dumitriu's AEK getting the better of Ivica Osim's Sturm, winning 2-0 at home before losing 1-0 in Graz. • The teams in Graz on 6 November 1997 were: Sturm: Sidorczuk, Posch, Haas, Prilasnig, Vasti?, Foda, Reinmayr, Neukirchner (Bardel 70), Mählich, Hopfer (Spiteri 74), Schupp (Kocijan 54). AEK: Atmatzidis, Kasapis, Dobos, Kostenoglou, Vlachos, Savevski, Nikolaidis, Kopitsis, Veridiano (Maladinis 57, Machairidis 62), Grétarsson (Daniel Batista 89), Kalitzakis. • Current Sturm coach Franco Foda played in both legs, as did striker Mario Haas, now 37. Foda was booked in the first match. • AEK technical director Arnar Grétarsson and new coach Nikos Kostenoglou also featured in both legs. Match background • Sturm's seven games against Greek teams have ended W4 D0 L3 (W2 D0 L1 in Graz). Their most recent opponents were Panathinaikos FC, against whom they twice lost 1-0 in the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League group stage. • In total, AEK's seven games against Austrian sides have ended W2 D1 L4 (W0 D1 L2 in Austria, where they have yet to score). They have not been paired with an Austrian side since eliminating FC Salzburg in the first round of the 2007/08 UEFA Cup. • AEK's Nikos Liberopoulos featured in both legs of Panathinaikos's meetings with Sturm in the 2000/01 UEFA Champions League second group stage; Sturm won 2-0 at home and 2-1 away, with Haas scoring in both fixtures. Imre Szabics came on as a substitute for Sturm in the second leg. • Sturm are on a three-game losing streak at home in Europe, with their only group stage win this season having come at AEK. • AEK are without a win in six European games (a draw and then five defeats) since a 1-0 triumph at FC Dinamo Tbilisi in the UEFA Europa League play-offs. Team facts • AEK have conceded 295 goals in UEFA competition; this will be their 196th game. • Former German international defender Foda finished his playing career at Sturm following spells with 1. FC Kaiserslautern, Bayer 04 Leverkusen and VfB Stuttgart among other German teams. He joined Sturm's coaching staff after hanging up his boots, and following a brief spell in charge in 2003, has led the first team since 2006. • AEK parted company with Spanish coach Manuel Jiménez by mutual consent in early October. Kostenoglou – who made over 220 league appearances for AEK at centre-back between 1994 and 2005 – has been named as his replacement. • The 41-year-old started his coaching career in the club's youth system before assisting Lorenzo Serra Ferrer and, when the Spaniard was dismissed, taking over as caretaker until the end of 2007/08. He was most recently in charge of Larissa FC (2011), following a spell with Asteras Tripolis FC (2008-09).