With both teams already certain of a place in the round of 32, Legia Warszawa and PSV Eindhoven meet in Poland – the visitors safe in the knowledge a victory would guarantee them top spot in Group C.
A tremendous Dries Mertens strike after 21 minutes settled the sides’ first meeting in PSV’s favour on matchday one; Marcin Komorowski looked to have cleared the danger for Legia after shrewdly intercepting a through ball, but the Belgian international struck a splendidly instinctive strike from the left edge of the penalty area which whistled past Dusan Kuciak.
PSV have won all seven of their games against Polish clubs, scoring 13 goals in the course of their three previous UEFA competition matches in Poland. They hit five in their only previous game in Warsaw, winning 5-1 at Gwardia Warszawa in the 1974/75 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup second round.
Feyenoord denied Legia a place in the 1969/70 European Champion Clubs’ Cup final, beating them 2-0 in Rotterdam following a 0-0 draw in Warsaw. Legia only reached one further semi-final, losing out to Manchester United FC in the 1990/91 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup.
In Legia’s only other tie against Dutch opponents, they beat FC Utrecht 7-2 on aggregate in a 2002/03 UEFA Cup first round tie.
Legia are yet to lose a home game in the UEFA Europa League since the competition succeeded the UEFA Cup, winning three fixtures and drawing three. Their last European home defeat was 2-1 against FC Moskva in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup second qualifying round on 14 August 2008.
PSV are on a seven-game unbeaten run in Europe – four wins and three draws – since a 4-1 loss at SL Benfica in last season’s UEFA Europa League quarter-finals. That remains their only defeat in their last nine away games, with that run including six wins as well as two draws.