Shakhtar look to make amends against Leverkusen

FC Shakhtar Donetsk host Bayer 04 Leverkusen looking to make amends for a heavy defeat in Germany on matchday three.

• Leverkusen's 4-0 victory over Shakhtar lifted them above Mircea Lucescu's side into second place in Group A, although Shakhtar know that they will climb back above the Bundesliga side if they take all three points in this return fixture.

• While Shakhtar have not won since matchday one, Leverkusen would complete a hat-trick of victories in the UEFA Champions League for the first time since 2002 should they prevail at the Donbass Arena.

Match background
• Shakhtar go into the game seeking a first home victory over Bundesliga visitors in over 30 years. Their last success came against Eintracht Frankfurt in the 1980/81 UEFA Cup first round when Mikhail Sokolovski earned them a 1-0 first-leg win, although the ensuing 3-0 defeat in Germany meant it was in vain.

• Shakhtar hosted German opponents in last season's UEFA Champions League round of 16 when they drew 2-2 with Borussia Dortmund, leading twice through Darijo Srna and Douglas Costa, en route to an eventual 5-2 aggregate reverse.

• The Ukrainian side's home record against German clubs is W2 D2 L1.

• Leverkusen's record in Ukraine is W2 D0 L3.

• Leverkusen lost 2-0 on their last trip to Ukraine last November to face FC Metalist Kharkiv in the 2012/13 UEFA Europa League group stage. Taison, now a Shakhtar player, was in the home lineup that day and was involved too when Leverkusen and Metalist met in the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League round of 32. Then the Bundesliga side won 4-0 in Kharkiv with Eren Derdiyok, Gonzalo Castro and Sidney Sam (2) scoring. Simon Rolfes found the net in the second leg as Leverkusen prevailed 6-0 overall.

• Shakhtar's most memorable meeting with a Bundesliga side was their 2-1 defeat of SV Werder Bremen in the 2009 UEFA Cup final. Luiz Adriano hit the opening goal for a Shakhtar team also including Andriy Pyatov, Srna, Olexandr Kucher, Dmytro Chygrynskiy and Ilsinho. Sebastian Boenisch was in the Bremen team.

Team ties
• Lucescu's first meeting with German opposition came on 23 October 1974 when his FC Dinamo Bucureşti side were held 1-1 at home by 1. FC Köln en route to a 4-3 aggregate defeat in the 1974/75 UEFA Cup second round. As a coach he was in charge of the Romania team beaten 2-1 by West Germany at the 1984 UEFA European Championship.

• In the 2001/02 UEFA Champions League, Sami Hyypiä helped Liverpool FC beat Dynamo Kyiv home and away in the first group stage – winning 1-0 in England and 2-1 in Ukraine – and then faced a Galatasaray AŞ side coached by Lucescu in the second group stage. Lucescu's Galatasaray earned two draws, 0-0 at Anfield and 1-1 in Turkey, but still finished bottom of the group, with Liverpool advancing to the last eight where they lost to Leverkusen.

• Goalkeeper Andrés Palop scored a crucial goal against Shakhtar at their old RSC Olympiyskiy Stadium for his former club Sevilla FC in March 2007. His header four minutes into added time in the second leg of a UEFA Cup round of 16 tie made it 2-2 on the night – and 4-4 on aggregate – and Sevilla went on to win the tie in extra time. It remains Palop's only career goal and was a key moment in holders Sevilla retaining the UEFA Cup that season.

• Derdiyok suffered at Shakhtar's hands with FC Basel 1893 in the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League group stage, losing 2-1 at home and 5-0 in Donetsk.

• Pyatov, Vyacheslav Shevchuk, Kucher and Taras Stepanenko were in the Ukraine team that won 3-1 at Boenisch's Poland in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier in March this year.

• On 11 October Pyatov, Shevchuk, Stepanenko and Yaroslav Rakitskiy helped Ukraine to a 1-0 win against Poland in Kharkiv.

• Boenisch's Poland were eliminated from UEFA EURO 2012 after a 1-0 loss to Hübschman's Czech Republic in the group stage.

• Ömer Toprak was in the Turkey side eliminated by the Croatia of Srna and Eduardo in the UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying play-offs. In June 2012, ahead of the EURO finals, he helped Turkey to a 2-0 friendly win over a Ukraine side including Pyatov, Shevchuk, Kucher and Rakitsky.

• Lars Bender scored Germany's winning goal in a 2-1 victory over Denmark in a UEFA EURO 2012 group fixture played in the Ukrainian city of Lviv.

• Robbie Kruse suffered a 6-0 defeat with Australia in a 7 September friendly against a Brazil side including Bernard and unused substitute Fernando. Three days later Son Heung-Min's South Korea succumbed 2-1 in a home friendly against Srna and Eduardo's Croatia.

• On 12 October, Bernard and Son both came off the bench as the former helped Brazil to a 2-0 friendly victory over the latter's South Korea.