Dortmund set sights on ousting Zenit

Borussia Dortmund will look to replicate their success in the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League round of 16 as they travel to FC Zenit.

• There will be a partial closure of the Stadion Petrovski– specifically the area housing the club's ultras – for the match as Zenit are punished for the racist behaviour of fans, the setting-off and throwing of fireworks and crowd disturbances during the Group G game away to FK Austria Wien on 11 December. UEFA has a zero-tolerance policy towards racism and discrimination on the pitch and in the stands.

• This is only the second time the Russian side have made it through to this stage. In 2011/12 they beat SL Benfica 3-2 at home, Roman Shirokov scoring twice, but lost 2-0 away.

• A year ago Dortmund drew 2-2 at FC Shakhtar Donetsk thanks to Mats Hummels' late equaliser with their other goal coming from Robert Lewandowski. In the return Jakub Błaszczykowski scored in a 3-0 win. 

Previous meetings
• The teams are meeting for the first time. Dortmund's last encounter with Russian opponents came 11 years ago.

• Zenit, UEFA Cup winners in 2007/08, have played 12 games against German sides, with a record of W4 D3 L5. Their six home meetings have ended W2 D1 L3.

• Prior to 2007/08, Zenit had not defeated a German club in European competition. Under Dutch coach Dick Advocaat, however, they played five games against Bundesliga sides in their triumphant UEFA Cup campaign. They first drew 2-2 at home to 1. FC Nürnberg in the group stage and won 4-1 away against Bayer 04 Leverkusen, whose team included Manuel Friedrich, in the quarter-finals before losing 1-0 at home. In the last four they followed up a 1-1 draw at FC Bayern München by winning the return leg 4-0 at the Stadion Petrovski.

• As holders, Zenit faced VfB Stuttgart in the following season's round of 32, winning 2-1 at home and away against a team that included Julian Schieber. The Russian club went out 2-1 on aggregate to Udinese Calcio in the last 16.

• Dortmund faced FC Lokomotiv Moskva in the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League second group stage, winning 2-1 in the Russian capital and 3-0 at home. They also recorded a 1-0 victory at FC Alania Vladikavkaz in the 1993/94 UEFA Cup first round, drawing 0-0 at home.

Match background
• Zenit qualified for the knockout rounds for only the second time in their history with six points, a record low tally for a UEFA Champions League group stage.

• They started Group G with a 3-1 defeat at Club Atlético de Madrid before drawing 0-0 at home to FK Austria Wien. A 1-0 victory at FC Porto, courtesy of a late Aleksandr Kerzhakov strike, boosted Luciano Spalletti's side but successive 1-1 draws at home against Porto and Atlético left their hopes hanging by a thread. They finished with a 4-1 reverse in Vienna, but nevertheless finished second, ten points behind Atlético but one ahead of both Porto and Austria.

• Runners-up last season, Dortmund's 2013/14 challenge got off to a faltering start when they went down 2-1 at SSC Napoli in their opening Group F fixture. Jürgen Klopp's men recovered to beat Olympique de Marseille at home and Arsenal FC away but lost at home to the Gunners. The Schwarzgelben therefore needed to beat Napoli on matchday five to stay in contention and, having managed that with a 3-1 win, prevailed 2-1 at Marseille in their final fixture. Kevin Grosskreutz's 87th-minute winner took the German club from third place in the standings to first.

• Dortmund have qualified for the knockout phase of the UEFA Champions League for two seasons running for the first time since managing three in a row between 1995/96 and 1997/98. Then, under Ottmar Hitzfeld, they lifted the trophy in the second season.

Team ties
• The injured Błaszczykowski, who is no longer in Dortmund's UEFA Champions League squad, scored in Poland's 1-1 draw against a Russia team who included Vyacheslav Malafeev, Aleksandr Anyukov, Konstantin Zyryanov, Shirokov, Kerzhakov and Andrey Arshavin in a UEFA EURO 2012 group stage game in Warsaw. Łukasz Piszczek and Lewandowski also featured for the co-hosts. 

• Russia's next fixture was against Sokratis Papastathopoulos' Greece, a 1-0 defeat ending their participation in the tournament. 

• Papastathopoulos also played for Greece in a November 2011 friendly against Russia for whom Shirokov scored in a 1-1 draw. Malafeev, Anyukov, Zyryanov and Arshavin all played in Piraeus.

• Anatoliy Tymoshchuk played for Bayern from 2009 to 2013, winning the Bundesliga in 2010 and 2013 and the UEFA Champions League last year. He faced Dortmund on four occasions, recording two wins, one draw and a defeat.

• Neven Subotić and Aleksandar Luković have played together for Serbia.