Odds against CSKA at Old Trafford

Not even the most optimistic PFC CSKA Moskva supporter would admit the portents are overly positive for their visit to Old Trafford on Matchday 4 – after all the Russian team's most recent group-stage away win came in the same 2004/05 season that United last suffered a home defeat in the UEFA Champions League.

• That record, and a 1-0 home reverse against United on Matchday 3 thanks to Antonio Valencia's late goal, means new CSKA coach Leonid Slutski and his players may feel they have something to prove as they look to better their first Group B away performance, a 3-1 reverse at VfL Wolfsburg.

Match background
• CSKA parted company with coach Juande Ramos by mutual consent on Monday 26 October, the day after a 3-1 Premier-Liga loss against FC Moskva. Ramos had been appointed on 10 September to replace Zico but could not put his side into contention for the Russian title, picking up ten points from six league games.

• PFC Krylya Sovetov Samara coach Slutski was immediately named as Ramos's successor. The 38-year-old former goalkeeper previously coached FC Olimpia Volgograd, FC Uralan Elista and Moskva, joining Krylya Sovetov before the 2008 season and leading them to a sixth-placed finish in his only full campaign.

• Slutski made his UEFA club competition debut this season with Krylya. The expedition was short-lived, though, as Slutski's side were eliminated by the Republic of Ireland's Saint Patrick's Athletic FC in the UEFA Europa League third qualifying round. They lost 1-0 in Dublin and went out on away goals despite winning the return leg 3-2.

• United, whose victory in Moscow was their first against Russian opposition at the sixth attempt, are unbeaten in 22 UEFA Champions League home games dating back to February 2005 but failed to win on the two previous occasions they welcomed Russian visitors to Old Trafford.

• A goalless draw with FC Torpedo Moskva was the precursor to a penalty shoot-out defeat after a second stalemate with the same opponents in Moscow in the 1992/93 UEFA Cup first round.

• There was further disappointment for United when SC Rotor Volgograd came to Old Trafford in the 1995/96 UEFA Cup first round. Although Paul Scholes and goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel scored to undo a two-goal half-time deficit, the 2-2 draw sent United out on the away-goals rule.

• United suffered at the hands of another Russian club, FC Zenit St. Petersburg, when going down 2-1 in last season's UEFA Super Cup in Monaco.

• This is CSKA's first appearance at Old Trafford but they will arrive with positive memories of their most recent trip to England when they drew 1-1 at Aston Villa FC in the round of 32 of last season's UEFA Cup. The now departed Vágner Love scored their goal and they went on to eliminate Villa 3-1 on aggregate.

• CSKA are still seeking a first victory on English soil and have won just once in 13 away outings in the UEFA Champions League group stage – 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain FC in December 2004.

• The 2004/05 UEFA Cup winners succumbed 3-1 to United's great rivals Liverpool FC in the 2005 UEFA Super Cup.

Team ties
• United duo Michael Owen (2) and Rio Ferdinand were on target when England earned a 3-0 Wembley victory against a Russia side featuring CSKA's Aleksei Berezutski, Vasili Berezutski and Sergei Ignashevich in a UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifier in September 2007.

• That CSKA trio subsequently gained revenge as they helped Russia beat England 2-1 in the return fixture in Moscow the following month, despite United's Wayne Rooney hitting the opening goal.

• Nemanja Vidić spent the 2004 and 2005 seasons with CSKA's arch-rivals FC Spartak Moskva. He made 39 league appearances and scored four goals, including one at CSKA in September 2004 though it did not stop his side going down to a 2-1 league defeat.

• Vidić is an international team-mate of CSKA's Serbia midfielder Miloš Krasić.

• Anderson made his UEFA Champions League debut against CSKA for FC Porto in a goalless draw in Portugal in September 2006.

• Edwin van der Sar was in the AFC Ajax side defeated by Spartak in the 1997/98 UEFA Cup quarter-finals and the Netherlands team beaten by Russia in the UEFA EURO 2008™ quarter-finals. CSKA's Igor Akinfeev and Ignashevich played for the opposition in Basel.

• Ignashevich was also in the Russia team that denied Ryan Giggs's Wales in the qualifying play-offs for UEFA EURO 2004™.