Moyes faces Hyypiä's Leverkusen on first night

Bayer 04 Leverkusen are the visitors to Old Trafford for the first European fixture of David Moyes's reign as Manchester United FC manager.

• For United this is their 18th consecutive UEFA Champions League campaign but for Moyes, it is his first taste of the group stage of a competition that the English title holders won twice under his predecessor, Sir Alex Ferguson.

• This is also the first UEFA Champions League fixture as a coach for Leverkusen's Sami Hyypiä, a winner as a player with Liverpool FC in 2005.

Previous meetings
• Leverkusen overcame United on away goals when the clubs met for the first time in the 2001/02 semi-finals.

• That tie began with a 2-2 first-leg draw at Old Trafford, United leading twice through a Boris Živković own goal (29) and Ruud van Nistelrooy penalty (67) and Leverkusen responding through Michael Ballack (62) and Oliver Neuville (75). Neuville's 45th-minute equaliser back in Germany cancelled out a Roy Keane goal (28), earning Klaus Toppmöller's Leverkusen a 1-1 draw on the night and victory on away goals.

• Ryan Giggs is the only survivor in either squad of that 2002 meeting at Old Trafford while Phil Neville, now United's first-team coach, was an 18th-minute substitute for his brother Gary. Giggs played in the return leg too, with Phil Neville an unused substitute. Dimitar Berbatov, a future United player, featured in both games for Leverkusen.

• United avenged that defeat by beating Leverkusen home and away in the next season's first group stage. Giggs and Neville played in United's 2-1 away success in September 2002, Van Nistelrooy (31, 44) scoring twice before Berbatov (52) pulled a goal back.

• United then prevailed 2-0 back at Old Trafford, Juan Sebastian Verón (42) and Van Nistelrooy (69) scoring after Jan Šimák's early penalty miss for the visitors. United advanced to the second group stage as section winners, with Leverkusen in second place.

• The lineups for that last encounter in Manchester were:
Manchester United: Ricardo, O'Shea, Blanc (G Neville 77), Ferdinand, Silvestre, Beckham (Solskjær 78), Verón, Fortune, Giggs (Chadwick 81), Scholes, Van Nistelrooy.
Leverkusen: Butt, Živković, Kleine, Ramelow, Sebescen, Balitsch (Preuss 81), Babic, Šimák, Bierofka (Dogan 78), Berbatov (Franca 62), Brdaric.

Match background
• This is United's first European fixture without Sir Alex at the helm since 20 March 1985 when Ron Atkinson's side went out of the UEFA Cup in a quarter-final tie against eventual runners-up Videoton FC in Hungary, losing 1-0 on the night and 5-4 on penalties after a 1-1 aggregate draw.

• At home in last season's UEFA Champions League, United beat Galatasaray AŞ and SC Braga but lost their last two such fixtures, to CFR 1907 Cluj and Real Madrid CF, the latter result confirming their elimination in the round of 16. The English title holders have won only three of their last nine home fixtures in UEFA competition and have lost four of the last six.

• United's last home encounter with German opposition brought a 4-1 victory over FC Schalke 04 in the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League semi-finals, a result that secured a 6-1 aggregate triumph. That was their fifth straight home win against visitors from the Bundesliga – Leverkusen were the last to avoid defeat, in 2001/02 – and their overall record is W7 D3 L2.

• Leverkusen won twice on their travels in last season's UEFA Europa League – at Rosenborg BK and SK Rapid Wien – but also lost at FC Metalist Kharkiv and SL Benfica. The latter defeat, 2-1 in Lisbon, ensured their exit in the round of 32.

• This is Leverkusen's UEFA Champions League third group stage appearance since they faced United in 2002/03. On both subsequent occasions – 2004/05 and 2011/12 – they qualified for the last 16. In the second of those campaigns they were grouped with Chelsea FC, losing 2-0 in London in September 2011 but winning 2-1 at home two months later, Eren Derdiyok (73) and Manuel Friedrich (90) scoring.

• Leverkusen are still seeking a first win in England where their record reads W0 D2 L6.

• United won their second European Cup with a 2-1 victory over FC Bayern München in the 1998/99 final in Barcelona.

Team ties
• Moyes played three matches in the European Champion Clubs' Cup for Celtic FC in 1981 and 1982. As Everton FC manager he contested a third qualifying round tie against Villarreal CF in 2005/06, a 4-2 aggregate defeat.

• Moyes' only previous encounter with German opposition was a 2-0 win at 1. FC Nürnberg in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup group stage.

• Hyypiä spent a decade at Liverpool from 1999 to 2009, making 318 Premier League appearances.

• The Finn scored his first goal in English football in Liverpool's 3-2 home loss to United in September 1999 and earned his only red card as a Liverpool player in a 4-0 defeat at Old Trafford in April 2003. Hyypiä's last away game as a Liverpool player was a 4-1 triumph at United in March 2009, leaving him with a record at Old Trafford of W4 D0 L5. He was also in the Liverpool side that beat United 2-0 in the 2003 League Cup final.

• Moyes and Hyypiä were involved in ten Merseyside derby fixtures against each other as Everton manager and Liverpool player respectively. Hyppia won five times with Moyes prevailing twice.

• Shinji Kagawa hit the only goal in Borussia Dortmund's 1-0 win against Leverkusen in February 2012. Overall his record against Leverkusen was W1 D1 L1.

• Derdiyok scored in Switzerland's 2-1 friendly defeat in February 2008 against an England side including Rooney, Rio Ferdinand and Ashley Young.

• Nani and Emir Spahić were both on the scoresheet when the former's Portugal beat the latter's Bosnia and Herzegovina 6-2 in a UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying play-off in Lisbon.