CSKA Moskva on brink against Palermo
PFC CSKA Moskva have won all three of their Group F games 3-0 and a repeat of their Matchday 3 victory against US Città di Palermo would take them into the last 32.
PFC CSKA Moskva are on a startling run as they head into their rematch against US Città di Palermo, having won all of their UEFA Europa League Group F games this season by the same 3-0 scoreline.
• Victory would guarantee CSKA a place in the round of 32.
Previous meetings
• The sides met for the first time on Matchday 3.
• Palermo's only meeting with a Russian side prior to that resulted in a goalless home draw against FC Lokomotiv Moskva in the 2005/06 UEFA Cup group stage.
• CSKA's 11 games against Italian teams have ended W3 D2 L6 (W1 D1 L3 at home).
Match background
• CSKA have won all five of their European fixtures this season, home and away, conceding just once and averaging three goals a match.
• The last time they appeared in the group stage of this competition, in 2008/09, CSKA won all of their games, scoring an average of three goals in each; they are on target to emulate that achievement this time around.
• The Army Men are unbeaten in their last nine UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League home games (eight wins and one draw) since a 2-1 group stage loss to Olympique de Marseille on 20 October 2005. They are on a seven-game winning run at home in the competition, having not conceded in their last four of those matches.
• Palermo have lost both of their European away fixtures this season.
Team facts
• Palermo's 3-0 defeat by CSKA on Matchday 3 was their heaviest home loss in UEFA club competition, and matched the Army Men's best ever European away win, against FC Lausanne-Sport earlier in this season's group stage.
• This will be CSKA's 100th game in UEFA club competition, with the previous 99 having ended W44 D22 L33.
• CSKA's Seydou Doumbia goes into the match as the top scorer in the group stage, with four goals in the first three matchdays.
• AC Sparta Praha's Juraj Kucka and Palermo's Javier Pastore have had more shots on goal than any other player in the group stage after three games, with eight each. Kucka has scored once while Pastore has yet to find the net.
• CSKA are the only side yet to concede a goal in this season's group stage.
• Seven of CSKA's nine goals in Group F have come after half-time, with four coming in the final 15 minutes.
• CSKA coach Leonid Slutski's playing career was ended at the age of 19 by a knee injury sustained when the young goalkeeper fell from a tree trying to rescue a neighbour's cat. Having gained experience in youth coaching, he worked wonders in a three-year spell at FC Moskva before leading PFC Krylya Sovetov Samara to a sixth-place finish in 2008. He took over at CSKA the following October.
• Hired to replace Walter Zenga as Palermo coach in November 2009, Delio Rossi never rose higher than Serie B as a player and took a while to make it to the top level after switching professions. However, his reputation was cemented thanks to a spell at Lazio from 2005 to 2009, where he won the Italian Cup in his final season.