Krasnodar v Sparta Praha background

Beaten 1-0 at AC Sparta Praha in the first leg, FC Krasnodar must maintain their perfect home record in this season's UEFA Europa League if they are to secure a place in the round of 16.

Previous meetings
• Lukáš Juliš scored the only goal of their 18 February contest, heading in a cross from captain Bořek Dočkal.

• The clubs drew 1-1 in a friendly in Spain in February 2014. David Lafata scored for Sparta, while Pavel Mamaev equalised for Krasnodar.

• Sparta's 12 games against Russian teams have ended W3 D5 L4 (W0 D3 L2 in Russia).

Form guide
• Krasnodar have won all five of their European home games this season.

• Sparta are unbeaten in the 2015/16 UEFA Europa League.

• Sparta last made it to the round of 32 in 2012/13, losing to Chelsea FC. They reached the UEFA Cup quarter-finals in 1984/85 – their best campaign in this competition.

• This is Krasnodar's first springtime UEFA tie. They failed to advance beyond the group stage in 2014/15 in what was their maiden season in Europe.

Trivia and links
• The journey from Prague to Krasnodar is around 1,700km.

• Sparta's Radoslav Kováč played in Russia for FC Spartak Moskva from 2005 to 2009; Krasnodar's Dmitri Torbinski (2005–07) and Vladimir Bystrov (2005–09) were among his team-mates.

• Sparta's Michal Breznaník also played in Russia for FC Amkar Perm from 2012 to 2014.

• Sparta's Dočkal and Krasnodar's Stefan Strandberg were team-mates at Norwegian side Rosenborg BK from 2012 to 2013.

• Krasnodar are one of four clubs to have made it all the way from the third qualifying round to the round of 32 this term, along with AS Saint-Étienne, Athletic Club and Borussia Dortmund.

• Sparta were penalised for 121 fouls during the group stage – 17 more than any other team – and were shown 21 yellow cards (only eliminated FK Partizan received as many).

• Krasnodar's French midfielder Charles Kaboré can make his 50th UEFA club competition appearance in the first leg.

The coaches
• Oleg Kononov has coached Krasnodar since 2013 and led his charges to an impressive third-place finish in Russia last term. This is his third UEFA Europa League campaign – he made it to the group stage with FC Karpaty Lviv in 2010/11 and with Krasnodar last year.

• Experienced trainer Zdeněk Ščasný, 58, took over at Sparta in April. Once a defender cum midfielder, he won Czechoslovakian titles with FK Dukla Praha and Sparta. As a coach, he steered Sparta to two championships in the 1990s and has also managed in Greece and Hungary.

Penalty shoot-outs
• Krasnodar have yet to feature in a UEFA penalty shoot-out.

• Sparta's record in two UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W1 L1:
L 3-1 H v FC Dynamo Kyiv (1998/99 UEFA Champions League second qualifying round)
W 4-3 A v Odense BK (2007/08 UEFA Cup first round)