Dynamo face tall order against holders

FC Dynamo Kyiv will have it all to do when they take on FC Barcelona in their decisive final Group F fixture on Matchday 6.

• While section leaders Barcelona require only a point to guarantee progress to the last 16 – a victory would ensure they finish first – the bottom-placed Ukrainian titleholders enter the contest knowing that to overtake their opponents they need to win either 2-0 or by three clear goals against a team yet to concede on their travels in the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League.

• Valeri Gazzaev's troops will be hoping the other group match between FC Internazionale Milano and FC Rubin Kazan finishes in a draw as that would render their task marginally more straightforward – any win would then suffice, whatever the margin of victory.

Previous meetings
• Reigning European champions Barcelona defeated Dynamo 2-0 when the clubs met at Camp Nou on 29 September, Lionel Messi (26) and Pedro Rodríguez (76) scoring the goals that ended a 15-game unbeaten run for the visitors.

• Dynamo will be looking to turn the clock back 12 years to the last time they welcomed Barcelona to Kyiv, when they walked away with a 3-0 success.

• The Ukrainian outfit prevailed in that UEFA Champions League group-stage match on 22 October 1997 through goals from Serhiy Rebrov, Yuriy Maksymov and Yuriy Kalitvintsev.

• Olexandr Shovkovskiy and Andriy Shevchenko were both in the Dynamo lineup that day. Sergio Busquets Sr, father of the present-day Barcelona midfielder, replaced the injured Ruud Hesp in goal for the visiting side during the second half.

• A fortnight later, Shevchenko hit a first-half hat-trick as Dynamo won 4-0 in Barcelona.

• Barcelona coach Josep Guardiola was in the starting lineup for the Catalan club when they last won in Kyiv – a 2-0 victory in the group stage of the 1991/92 European Champion Clubs' Cup.

• Overall, the teams' four previous meetings in Kyiv have produced two wins apiece.

Match background
• Dynamo have drawn their last four home matches against Spanish opposition.

• Their last victory against visitors from Spain was a 2-0 success against Real Madrid CF in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals in March 1999, when Shevchenko fired both goals.

• Lionel Messi's two late efforts earned Guardiola's side a dramatic 2-1 win away to Dynamo's domestic rivals FC Shakhtar Donetsk in last season's group stage. Messi equalised after 87 minutes and then struck again in the fourth minute of added time.

• Dynamo last qualified for the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League in 1999/2000. Barcelona, by contrast, are seeking a sixth successive appearance in the competition's latter stages.

• Dynamo's most recent 2-0 home triumph in the UEFA Champions League came against AS Roma in November 2004.

• The last time they enjoyed a winning margin greater than two goals in this competition in Kyiv was in September 2000, when they swept aside RSC Anderlecht 4-0.

• It was on Ukrainian soil that Barcelona last lost a UEFA Champions League group game 2-0, succumbing by that scoreline to Shakhtar on 7 December 2004.

• That same season, Barcelona also lost by a two-goal margin against Chelsea FC in the first knockout round, going down 4-2 at Stamford Bridge.

• Barcelona are unbeaten in eight away matches in the UEFA Champions League – a run that includes goalless draws at Inter and Rubin this term.

Team ties
• As a player, Barça coach Guardiola featured in home-and-away wins for the Blaugrana against Dynamo in the group stage of the 1991/92 European Cup. Guardiola was also in the Barcelona team that beat Dynamo in the first round two seasons later.

• Shevchenko turned out for the AC Milan side that lost to Barcelona in the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League semi-finals.

• Shovkovskiy was the Ukraine goalkeeper beaten four times by Spain in a 4-0 defeat in the countries' opening match at the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

• Thierry Henry experienced mixed fortunes against Dynamo with former club Arsenal FC in the 2003/04 group stage. He was in the side beaten 2-1 in Kyiv, scoring Arsenal's goal, but also took part as the Gunners won the home return 1-0.

• Zlatan Ibrahimović struck twice for Inter when they overturned a two-goal deficit to earn a 4-2 win against Dynamo coach Gazzaev's former club PFC CSKA Moskva in the 2007/08 group stage – a result which eliminated CSKA.

• Barcelona midfielder Yaya Touré finished on the beaten side when he visited Dynamo with former employers FC Metalurh Donetsk in the Ukrainian Premier League in 2004, losing 2-1.