Sevilla v Shakhtar Donetsk background

A third successive UEFA Europa League final is seemingly within Sevilla FC's reach as they welcome FC Shakhtar Donetsk in their semi-final decider.

Previous meetings
• Kevin Gameiro's penalty earned Sevilla a 2-2 draw in Lviv; the holders took an early lead but trailed 2-1 at the break.

• Juande Ramos's Sevilla overcame Shakhtar in dramatic fashion in the round of 16 en route to lifting the 2006/07 UEFA Cup. After a 2-2 draw in Spain, Sevilla goalkeeper Andrés Palop scored at the death to make it 2-2 in the return leg, Ernesto Chevantón eventually winning it for the visitors in extra time.

• The teams for that game in Donetsk, on 16 March 2007, were:
Shakhtar: Shust, Lewandowski, Chygrynskiy, Kucher*, Shevchuk* (Raţ 44), Gai, Matuzalém (Duljaj 86), Fernandinho, Jádson, Marica, Bielik (Elano 64).
Sevilla: Palop, Navarro (Duda 81), Dani Alves, Escudé, Dragutinović, Hinkel (Chevantón 57), Adriano (Puerta 57), Maresca, Poulsen, Luís Fabiano, Kanouté.
* registered to play for the club in this season's UEFA Europa League

• Sevilla are unbeaten in six meetings with Ukrainian clubs (W4 D2), and notably beat FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk 3-2 in last season's UEFA Europa League final in Warsaw.

• Shakhtar's 22 matches against Spanish opposition have ended W4 D6 L12 (W2 D4 L5 at home – W2 D2 L6 in Spain). Those encounters include a 1-0 loss to FC Barcelona in the 2009 UEFA Super Cup in Monaco.

Form guide
• Of the eight sides that parachuted in from the UEFA Champions League group stage, just Shakhtar and Sevilla remain in contention. Shakhtar are unbeaten in seven fixtures (W5 D2 – W3 away from home) since entering the competition; Sevilla's record in the same period reads W3 D2 L2.

• Sevilla lost their most recent UEFA home game, 2-1 to Athletic Club, after winning their previous three without conceding. Shakhtar have won all three of their European away matches this calendar year.

• Sevilla landed the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League for a record fourth time last term – and a second time in succession. No team have won three consecutive editions of a major UEFA competition since FC Bayern München's third straight European Champion Clubs' Cup in 1975/76.

• Sevilla are the first club to contest the UEFA Europa League semi-finals for three seasons running.

• Of the semi-finalists, only Shakhtar, the last UEFA Cup winners, have never reached this stage of the UEFA Europa League before. This is the first time Shakhtar have figured in the semis since winning that farewell edition of the UEFA Cup in 2009.

Links and trivia
• The journey from Donetsk to Seville is around 3,700km.

• Sevilla's Adil Rami made his 50th UEFA club competition outing in the first leg.

• Shakhtar boast the player (Darijo Srna, 135) and the coach (Mircea Lucescu, 213) who have appeared in the most UEFA club competition matches of the last-four contenders.

• Sevilla's Daniel Carriço has played more UEFA Europa League games (group stage to final) than any other player, 52 in total.

• Sevilla's Ukraine winger Yevhen Konoplyanka joined from Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk after their defeat in last season's UEFA Europa League final. As a Dnipro player, he did not score in 13 league and cup matches against Shakhtar, with his side's record in those fixtures: W2 D6 L5.

• Srna made his club-record 486th appearance for Shakhtar in the 4-0 quarter-final second-leg thrashing of SC Braga, breaking Mikhail Sokolovskiy's record, which had stood for nearly three decades.

The coaches
• Unai Emery, 44, oversaw Sevilla's successes in the last two editions of the UEFA Europa League, having assumed control in January 2013. The one-time midfielder made his name during a four-year tenure at Valencia and briefly coached Spartak Moskva in 2012.

• This is Emery's 100th game coaching in UEFA competition.

• Mircea Lucescu has occupied the Shakhtar helm since 2004, steering the Pitmen to eight Ukrainian championships and five national cups as well as the 2009 UEFA Cup. The erstwhile striker, 70, has coached in Romania and Italy and landed back-to-back Turkish titles with different clubs in the early 2000s.

Penalty shoot-outs
• Sevilla have won five of their six UEFA penalty shoot-outs (W1 L1 at home – W2 away – W2 at neutral venues):
W 4-3 A v PAOK FC (1990/91 UEFA Cup first round)
W 3-1 N v RCD Espanyol (2006/07 UEFA Cup final)
L 2-3 H v Fenerbahçe SK (2007/08 UEFA Champions League round of 16)
W 4-3 A v Real Betis Balompié (2013/14 UEFA Europa League round of 16)
W 4-2 N v SL Benfica (2013/14 UEFA Europa League final)
W 5-4 H v Athletic Club (2015/16 UEFA Europa League quarter-finals)

• Shakhtar lost their only previous UEFA penalty shoot-out:
L 1-4 A v Club Brugge KV (2002/03 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round)