Rubin looking to keep run going

FC Rubin Kazan welcome visitors FC Dynamo Kyiv to the Centralniy Stadium aiming to extend their three-game unbeaten run in Group F – and, with it, continue their surprise push for a place in the knockout rounds.

• Having taken four points from their double-header with FC Barcelona, UEFA Champions League newcomers Rubin sit second in the section and could even secure qualification on Matchday 5. It would require them to defeat Dynamo and for Barcelona to lose at home to group leaders FC Internazionale Milano.

• After a shattering last-gasp home defeat by Inter on Matchday 4, Dynamo can take heart from the fact that they are still only two points off the top in this tightly contested group. That said, a defeat here for the visitors – who have not reached the last 16 since 1999/2000 – would end their hopes.

Previous meeting
• Dynamo can draw further encouragement from having beaten Rubin 3-1 in the teams' opening Group F fixture. Alejandro Domínguez gave the Russian side a first-half lead but Valeri Gazzaev's hosts hit back with goals in the final 19 minutes from Ayila Yussuf, Gérson Magrão and Oleh Gusev.

Match background
• After holding both Inter and Barcelona at the Centralniy Stadium, Rubin are seeking their maiden home victory in the competition in their first meeting with Ukrainian opposition on Russian soil.

• On their last trip across the border to Russia, Dynamo beat FC Spartak Moskva 4-1 in a UEFA Champions League third qualifying round tie in August 2008. They had lost on their two previous visits in UEFA competition.

• Dynamo coach Gazzaev failed three times to help former employers PFC CSKA Moskva progress from the group stage, though he did lead them to the UEFA Cup in 2004/05, the first European success for a Russian side.

Team ties
• As coach of CSKA in 2008, Gazzaev's team beat Rubin 4-0 at home and held them 0-0 away – yet still finished runners-up to the Kazan side in the championship.

• Rubin midfielder Gökdeniz Karadeniz scored against Dynamo for former club Trabzonspor in the 2004/05 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round. He struck Trabzonspor's first goal in a 2-1 first-leg win in Kyiv only to finish on the losing side overall after a 2-0 second-leg reverse.

• Gökdeniz suffered at the hands of Dynamo duo Gusev and Andriy Shevchenko when they hit Ukraine's goals in a 3-0 away win in Turkey in qualifying for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The Turkish international also lined up against Dynamo's Olexandr Shovkovskiy and Andriy Nesmachniy when Turkey won the return 1-0 in Kyiv, but it was Ukraine who won the group.

• Although a Russian international, Rubin midfielder Sergei Semak was born in the eastern Ukrainian border region of Luhansk. He played under Gazzaev at CSKA from 2002 to 2004.

• Former Dynamo favourite Serhiy Rebrov ended his second spell with the Kyiv club in 2008 and joined Rubin, helping them claim their first title before retiring this summer and rejoining Dynamo as a coach of the youth and reserve teams.