Palermo plot Newcastle's downfallUS Città di Palermo will hope to take a second English UEFA Cup scalp for the season as they take on Newcastle United FC in Group H.
• The two sides have never met in European competition.
• Palermo won their opening Group H game 2-1 at Eintracht Frankfurt, with Franco Brienza and Cristian Zaccardo scoring the goals in Germany.
• Newcastle, meanwhile, won 1-0 at home against Fenerbahçe SK, with Antoine Sibierski finding the target.
• Playing in only their second season in European competition, two of their 13 European ties to date (nine wins, two draws and two defeats) have been against English opposition.
• Francesco Guidolin's men reached the UEFA Cup group stage after overcoming Newcastle's Premiership rivals West Ham United FC 4-0 on aggregate in the first round, winning 1-0 in London and 3-0 in Sicily.
• Coach Guidolin has played a further two two-legged European ties against English opposition. His Vicenza Calcio side lost 3-2 on aggregate against Chelsea FC in the 1997/98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup semi-final while his Bologna FC side lost 5-3 on aggregate against Fulham FC in one of the 2002 UEFA Intertoto Cup finals.
• In 89 UEFA competition games (51 wins, 15 draws and 23 defeats), Newcastle have met Italian opposition on six occasions.
• AS Roma knocked Newcastle out of the 1999/00 UEFA Cup third round with a 1-0 win at home and a 0-0 draw at St James's Park.
• Newcastle played both Juventus and FC Internazionale Milano in the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League group stage, trading victories with Juventus in the first group stage before losing 4-1 at home and drawing 2-2 against Inter in the second group stage.
• Palermo goalkeeper Albert Fontana was on the bench for both of those games against Inter as cover for Francesco Toldo.
• Newcastle are therefore yet to win a game on Italian soil, losing twice and drawing once in three games.
• RC Celta de Vigo take on Eintracht in Matchday 2's other Group H game.
Franco Brienza celebrates scoring against Eintracht
