Club Brugge KV v SK Rapid Wien PRESS KIT Jan Breydel, Bruges Wednesday, 2 November 2005 - 20:45 CET Group A - Matchday 4 When the teams met on 18 October at SK Rapid Wien's Ernst Happel stadium, a 75th- minute strike from Boško Balaban was enough to ensure Club Brugge KV victory. It meant the Belgian champions collected their first points in Group A, and left their Austrian counterparts still searching for a first-ever win in the UEFA Champions League. The one goal scored on Matchday 3 went against the trend of previous matches between the teams, with their two previous ties in UEFA club competition producing a hatful of goals. Rapid unbeaten in Bruges •The Austrian side are unbeaten in their two previous trips to Club Brugge having left Belgium with a draw and a win. Overall, their four matches have produced 23 goals. First meeting •Thirteen of them were scored in their first meeting in the first round of the 1986/87 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. Rapid edged a thrilling first leg 4-3 at home as goals from Reinhard Kienast (2), Karl Brauneder and Gerald Willfurth cancelled out Ronny Rosenthal's opener. What should have been a comfortable first-leg victory from that point turned out to be anything but, as Luc Beyens and Dennis van Wijk struck for Club Brugge to narrow the lead and ensure a nervous finale. •In the return leg at the Jan Breydelstadion in Bruges, Kenneth Brylle Larsen and Rosenthal gave the home side the lead in the tie, but Rapid hit back immediately with goals from current Croatia coach Zlatko Kranjcar, Rudolf Weinhofer and Sulejman Halilovic to take control at 3-2. Van Wijk's late goal could not quite tip the balance, with the match finishing 3-3 and the tie at 7-6 on aggregate to the Austrian team. Second tie •The clubs were then drawn together in the second round of the 1989/90 UEFA Cup, with Rapid gaining a significant early advantage with a 2-1 win in Belgium thanks to late goals from Christian Keglevits and Heimo Pfeifenberger. Hans Christiaens had previously struck to give Club Brugge the advantage. •The return leg in Vienna produced another 4-3 scoreline. Frank Farina levelled the tie, but Jan Åge Fjørtoft and Keglevits again put Rapid in control. In a hectic final ten minutes, current Club Brugge coach Jan Ceulemans scored a penalty to reduce the margin, only for Keglevits and Pfeifenberger to make the score 4-2 on the night, before Foeke Booy completed the scoring. Ceulemans chance •So Rapid have won both previous two-legged ties against Club Brugge. But this meeting gives Ceulemans a second chance for revenge within a fortnight – he played in all the four earlier matches, and was captain in both games. uefa.com 1/30 Club Brugge KV v SK Rapid Wien PRESS KIT Last Austrian visit •Club Brugge have played three home games against Austrian clubs in UEFA competition. Following the matches with Rapid, the Belgian team played FK Austria Wien in the second round of the 1992/93 European Champion Clubs' Cup. •At the Jan Breydelstadion, Gert Verheyen and Booy gave Club Brugge a 2-0 win, their first home success against an Austrian team. A Stephan Van der Heyden goal in Vienna, despite a 3-1 defeat, enabled the Belgian team to progress into the inaugural UEFA Champions League group stage. Defeat on last Belgian outing •Rapid come to Belgium on the back of a defeat on their last visit. Following their second-round success at Club Brugge in the 1989/90 UEFA Cup, Rapid were again drawn against Belgian opposition in the next stage. The Austrian side faced RFC Liège, now RC Liégeois, and won the home leg 1-0, but there was to be no repeat win in Belgium as Liège achieved a 3-1 victory. Team facts: Club Brugge •Club Brugge are involved in the group stage for the third time in four years, but the Belgian champions have yet to make it beyond the group stage having finished in third place in both the 2002/03 and 2003/04 seasons – an outcome that resulted in their switch to the knockout stages of the UEFA Cup. •Club Brugge's proudest European moment came in their qualification for the 1977/78 European Champion Clubs' Cup final where a solitary goal from Kenny Dalglish provided Liverpool FC with victory at London's Wembley stadium. The Belgian side were coached on that day by one Ernst Happel, after whom the venue of their Matchday 3 engagement with Rapid in Vienna is named. •Club Brugge won the Belgian first division by three points from RSC Anderlecht, thus giving them a place in the third qualifying round of the competition where they required a penalty shoot-out to eventually overcome stubborn Norwegian side Vålerenga IF. •Trailing 1-0 from the opening leg in Oslo, the Belgian champions needed a Boško Balaban goal seven minutes into added time to force the tie into extra time. No further goals were scored until the penalty shoot-out, which Club Brugge eventually won 4-3 with Sven Vermant, Michael Klukowski, Jonathan Blondel and Balaban all on target. •Club Brugge were winless after the opening two matchdays having lost 2-1 at home against Juventus and then 1-0 away against FC Bayern München. Pavel Nedvěd (66) and David Trezeguet (75) did the damage at the Jan Breydelstadion with Jeanvoin Yulu­Matondo (85) scoring the Belgian side's consolation. For Bayern, who recorded their second successive 1­0 win in the competition, Martin Demichelis (32) was on target. • The Belgian side managed to give themselves a chance of advancing to the knockout stages by overcoming SK Rapid Wien on Matchday 3. The only goal of the game at uefa.com 2/30 Club Brugge KV v SK Rapid Wien PRESS KIT Vienna's Ernst Happel stadium came 15 minutes from time through Croatian striker Balaban. Team facts: Rapid • Rapid are making their second appearance in the UEFA Champions League group stage having been involved in the 1996/97 season, when they drew two and lost the remaining four of their six matches. Their points both came in Vienna thanks to 1­1 draws against Fenerbahçe SK and Juventus. However, the Austrian side failed to score in their three away defeats, against Manchester United FC (2­0), Juventus (5­0) and Fenerbahçe (1­0). • Rapid featured in a UEFA club competition final as recently as the 1995/96 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup when they lost 1­0 to a Bruno N’Gotty goal after 28 minutes for Paris Saint­Germain FC in Brussels. • From the final of the Cup Winners' Cup to this season, their best performance in UEFA club competition came in the 1997/98 UEFA Cup when they reached the third round of the competition before bowing out 3­0 on aggregate to eventual beaten finalists, S.S. Lazio. • Rapid entered the UEFA Champions League in the second qualifying round after winning last season's Austrian Bundesliga by a point from Grazer AK. It was their 31st championship, but their first since 1995/96 – which was also the last time they advanced to the group stage of the UEFA Champions League. • The Austrian champions overcame F91 Dudelange from Luxembourg in the second qualifying round, running out 9­3 aggregate winners after all but ending the tie with a 6­ 1 away win in the first leg. Strike partners Muhammet Akagündüz and Axel Lawaree both helped themselves to two goals apiece. Rapid allowed Dudelange to take a two­ goal interval lead in the return leg in Vienna, but two goals from Lawaree (47, 81) and another from Matthias Dollinger (86) eased Austrian nerves. • Rapid were held at home in their third qualifying round first leg by Russian champions FC Lokomotiv Moskva, for whom Aleksandr Samedov opened the scoring after nine minutes. Rapid levelled 15 minutes from time through Josef Valachovič and the Slovakian defender was on target in the return leg in Moscow, scoring the only goal of the game six minutes from time to secure Rapid's passage to the group stage for the second time in their history. • But Matchdays 1 and 2 yielded no goals for and four against in two defeats. FC Bayern München won at the Ernst Happel stadium thanks to José Paulo Guerrero's goal on the hour while 13 days later David Trezeguet (27), Adrian Mutu (82) and Zlatan Ibrahimović (85) were on target for Juventus in a 3­0 win. • More of the same followed on Matchday 3 as Rapid slumped to their third successive defeat in the competition, on this occasion at home to Club Brugge KV for whom Boško Balaban scored the only goal of the game 15 minutes from time. The defeat was Rapid's uefa.com 3/30 Club Brugge KV v SK Rapid Wien PRESS KIT sixth consecutive loss in the competition. • To date, Rapid have played 182 matches in UEFA club competition, but they are still waiting for their first victory in the UEFA Champions League having drawn two and lost seven of their engagements to date scoring twice and conceding 17 times. • From the 182 matches to date, the Austrian club have won 73, drawn 34 and lost 75 times with 278 goals scored and 249 conceded. Match facts: Club Brugge v Rapid • Gert Verheyen scored the equalising goal in the 2­2 draw against his former club RSC Anderlecht on 23 October. It was his first goal ever against the Brussels side and his 150th league strike for Club Brugge.