UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - 2020/21 SEASON MATCH PRESS KITS Ludogorets Arena - Razgrad Thursday 10 December 2020 21.00CET (22.00 local time) PFC Ludogorets 1945 Group J - Matchday 6 LASK Last updated 11/12/2020 16:18CET Previous meetings 2 Match background 3 Team facts 4 Squad list 6 Fixtures and results 8 Match-by-match lineups 11 Match officials 13 Legend 14 1 PFC Ludogorets 1945 - LASK Thursday 10 December 2020 - 21.00CET (22.00 local time) Match press kit Ludogorets Arena, Razgrad Previous meetings Head to Head UEFA Europa League Date Stage Match Result Venue Goalscorers Balić 2, Gruber 11, Raguž 34, Verdon 56 29/10/2020 GS LASK - PFC Ludogorets 1945 4-3 Linz (og); Manu 15, 67, 74 (P) Home Away Final Total Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L Pld W D L GF GA PFC Ludogorets 1945 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 3 4 LASK 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 4 3 PFC Ludogorets 1945 - Record versus clubs from opponents' country PFC Ludogorets 1945 have not played against a club from their opponents' country LASK - Record versus clubs from opponents' country LASK have not played against a club from their opponents' country 2 PFC Ludogorets 1945 - LASK Thursday 10 December 2020 - 21.00CET (22.00 local time) Match press kit Ludogorets Arena, Razgrad Match background While Ludogorets and LASK are confirmed in fourth and third place respectively in Group J, the Bulgarian champions will want to avoid exiting the competition with another UEFA Europa League defeat. • Ludogorets have lost all five of their Group J fixtures, the latest 3-1 at Antwerp, conceding 16 goals in total, while LASK have seven points to their name, their entertaining 3-3 draw at home to Tottenham last time out proving insufficient to keep alive their hopes of further progress. Previous meetings • The Matchday 2 encounter between the clubs was LASK's first with Bulgarian opposition and Ludogorets' first against a team from Austria. It turned out to be a seven-goal thriller, LASK prevailing 4-3 despite surrendering a 4-1 lead and having to hold on with ten men following Lukas Grgic's 72nd-minute dismissal. All three Ludogorets goals were scored by Dutch striker Elvis Manu. Form guide Ludogorets • Ludogorets won a ninth consecutive Bulgarian league title in 2019/20 to earn a place in this season's UEFA Champions League first qualifying round, where they beat Budućnost of Montenegro (3-1 a) before falling in the next round to Danish champions Midtjylland (0-1 h). Awarded a bye into the UEFA Europa League play-offs, they then beat Dinamo Brest 2-0 away to reach the group stage for the fourth year in a row and fifth time in all. • Last season was Ludogorets' longest in this competition, incorporating 16 matches as they progressed from the second qualifying round to the round of 32, where they were knocked out by Internazionale (0-2 h, 1-2 a). It was the third time that they had qualified from their group, finishing runners-up to Espanyol and ahead of Ferencváros – their conquerors in the UEFA Champions League first qualifying round – and CSKA Moskva. • Ludogorets have failed to win any of their last six European home games, losing five of them, including this season's Group J reverses against Antwerp (1-2) and Tottenham (1-3). In the UEFA Europa League, group stage to final, they have posted just one win in their last 12 home matches (D4 L7) – a 5-1 success against CSKA Moskva on Matchday 1 last season – and are without a win, home and away, in 11 games, losing the last seven. LASK • Fourth in the 2019/20 Austrian Bundesliga, LASK enjoyed the longest and most successful European run in their history last season, stretching from the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League to the UEFA Europa League round of 16. • LASK made their debut in the UEFA Europa League group stage last term, topping a group containing three European stalwarts in Sporting CP, PSV Eindhoven and Rosenborg before overcoming AZ Alkmaar in the round of 32 in what was the club's first experience of springtime European football. Subsequently eliminated by Manchester United, they returned to the group stage this term under new coach Dominik Thalhammer thanks to big qualifying wins against DAC Dunajská Streda (7-0 h) and, in the play-offs, Sporting (4-1 a). Both were club record wins in this competition. • The team from the Danube city have won just two of their seven away games in the UEFA Europa League proper (D2 L3), the second of them this season at Antwerp (1-0) after they had lost 3-0 at Tottenham in their opening Group J fixture. Links and trivia • Two Ludogorets players have played on loan for Austrian clubs – Bernard Tekpetey at Altach in 2017 and Kiril Despodov at Sturm Graz in 2019/20. • Ludogorets defender Dragoş Grigore, who was red-carded at Antwerp on Matchday 5, scored past LASK goalkeeper Alexander Schlager as Romania won 3-2 away to Austria in September in the UEFA Nations League. • Ludogorets, who replaced Pavel Vrba with former player Stanislav Genchev as head coach after Matchday 1, are one of three clubs entering Matchday 6 of the 2020/21 UEFA Europa League without a point – together with Dundalk (Group B) and Gent (L). Only four teams have ever lost all six group games in the competition – Shamrock Rovers (2011/12), Slovan Bratislava (2014/15), Metalist Kharkiv (2014/15) and Gabala (2016/17). 3 PFC Ludogorets 1945 - LASK Thursday 10 December 2020 - 21.00CET (22.00 local time) Match press kit Ludogorets Arena, Razgrad Team facts FC Ludogorets Razgrad Formed: 1945 Nickname: The Eagles UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets) • None Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets) League title: 9 (2020) Bulgarian Cup: 2 (2014) Ten-year European record (UEFA Europa League unless indicated otherwise) 2019/20: round of 32 (having transferred from UEFA Champions League first qualifying round) 2018/19: group stage (having transferred from UEFA Champions League second qualifying round) 2017/18: round of 32 (having transferred from UEFA Champions League third qualifying round) 2016/17: round of 32 (having transferred from UEFA Champions League group stage) 2015/16: UEFA Champions League second qualifying round 2014/15: UEFA Champions League group stage 2013/14: round of 16 (having transferred from UEFA Champions League play-offs) 2012/13: UEFA Champions League second qualifying round 2011/12: did not take part in UEFA competition 2010/11: did not take part in UEFA competition Records UEFA club competition • Biggest home win 7-0: Ludogorets v Crusaders 11/07/18, UEFA Champions League first qualifying round first leg Biggest away win 0-4: TNS v Ludogorets 15/08/19, UEFA Europa League third qualifying round second leg • Heaviest home defeat 0-3 twice, most recently v AC Milan 15/02/18, UEFA Europa League round of 32 first leg • Heaviest away defeat 6-0 twice, most recently v Espanyol 07/11/19, UEFA Europa League group stage UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League • Biggest home win 5-0: Ludogorets v TNS 08/08/19, second qualifying round first leg • Biggest away win 0-4: TNS v Ludogorets (see above) • Heaviest home defeat 0-3 twice, most recently v AC Milan (see above) • Heaviest away defeat 6-0: Espanyol v Ludogorets (see above) LASK Linz Formed: 1908 Nickname: Die Schwarz-Weißen (The Black and Whites), Die Laskler UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets) • None Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets) League title: 1 (1965) Austrian Cup: 1 (1965) 4 PFC Ludogorets 1945 - LASK Thursday 10 December 2020 - 21.00CET (22.00 local time) Match press kit Ludogorets Arena, Razgrad Ten-year European record (UEFA Europa League unless indicated otherwise) 2019/20: round of 16 (having transferred from UEFA Champions League play-offs) 2018/19: third qualifying round 2017/18: did not take part in UEFA competition 2016/17: did not take part in UEFA competition 2015/16: did not take part in UEFA competition 2014/15: did not take part in UEFA competition 2013/14: did not take part in UEFA competition 2012/13: did not take part in UEFA competition 2011/12: did not take part in UEFA competition 2010/11: did not take part in UEFA competition Records UEFA club competition • Biggest home win 7-0: LASK v DAC Dunajská Streda 24/09/20, UEFA Europa League third qualifying round • Biggest away win 0-4: B68 Toftir v LASK 23/06/96, UEFA Intertoto Cup group stage • Heaviest home defeat 0-5: LASK v Manchester United 12/03/20, UEFA Europa League round of 16 first leg • Heaviest away defeat 7-0: Újpest v LASK 28/09/77, UEFA Cup first round second leg UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League • Biggest home win 7-0: LASK v DAC Dunajská Streda (see above) • Biggest away win 1-4: Sporting CP v LASK 01/10/20, play-offs • Heaviest home defeat 0-5: LASK v Manchester United (see above) • Heaviest away defeat 7-0: Újpest v LASK (see above) 5 PFC Ludogorets 1945 - LASK Thursday 10 December 2020 - 21.00CET (22.00 local time) Match press kit Ludogorets Arena, Razgrad Squad list PFC Ludogorets 1945 Current season All-time UCL QUAL UEL League UEL UEFA No. Player Nat. DoB Age D Pld Gls Pld Gls Pld Gls Pld Gls Pld Gls Pld Gls Goalkeepers 23 Plamen Iliev BUL 30/11/1991 29 - - - 1 - 4 - 4 - 11 - 32 - 27 Vladislav Stoyanov BUL 08/06/1987 33 - - - - - 1 - 5 - 16 - 64 - 33 Renan BRA 18/05/1989 31 - 2 - - - - - 5 - 10 - 21 - 69 Damyan Damyanov BUL 29/06/2000 20 - - - - - - - - - - - - - Defenders 3 Anton Nedyalkov BUL 30/04/1993 27 - 2 - 1 - 5 - 12 - 19 - 35 - 4 Cicinho BUL 26/12/1988 31 - 2 - 1 - 2 - 9 2 24 - 46 - 5 Georgi Terziev BUL 18/04/1992 28 - - - - - 3 - 6 - 16 - 31 2 21 Dragoş Grigore ROU 07/09/1986 34 S 2 - - - 2 - 6 - 8 -