Hertha Berlin will bid to make it by a UEFA Europa League organisation theatre for a second time, kicking off their Group J debate during home opposite Athletic Club.
Previous meetings
• The sides are assembly for a initial time in UEFA competition.
• In their usually prior confront with Liga opponents, Hertha drew 1-1 during home to Barcelona in a 1999/2000 UEFA Champions League second organisation stage, though mislaid 3-1 during Camp Nou.
• Athletic’s 10 European matches with German teams have finished W4 D2 L4. They have won their final dual games in Germany – 4-2 during Schalke in a 2011/12 UEFA Europa League quarter-finals and 3-2 during Augsburg in a 2015/16 UEFA Europa League organisation stage.
Form guide
• Hertha are dominant in 3 European home fixtures (W2 D1).
• Athletic are dominant in dual UEFA divided games this deteriorate (W1 D1) – opposite Dinamo București (1-1) and Panathinaikos (3-2).
• Sixth in Germany final term, Hertha got by a UEFA Europa League organisation theatre on their many new appearance, in 2009/10, though were knocked out in final season’s third subordinate round.
• Seventh in Spain final term, Athletic have successfully negotiated a final dual UEFA Europa League organisation stages, and particularly were losing finalists in a 1976/77 UEFA Cup and 2011/12 UEFA Europa League.
Links and trivia
• The tour from Bilbao to Berlin is around 1,600km.
• Athletic’s Raúl GarcÃa was a 2009/10 UEFA Europa League leader with Atlético Madrid.
• Athletic’s Aritz Aduriz top-scored in a 2015/16 UEFA Europa League with 10 goals.
• Hertha’s Salomon Kalou was a 2011/12 UEFA Champions League leader with Chelsea.
The coaches
• Pál Dárdai assimilated Hertha as a actor in 1997 and done a club-record 366 joining appearances for Die Alte Dame. He coached Hertha’s girl group – and Hungary’s comparison side – for a time before holding authority of a seniors in 2015.
• Better famous as ‘Cuco’, José Ãngel Ziganda was a brazen for Osasuna and Athletic Club, and after took Osasuna to a 2006/07 UEFA Cup semi-finals as a coach. He was handed a Athletic reins in May 2017 after a six-year spell as B group boss.