Spartak size up Fenerbahçe

FC Spartak Mosvka are looking to make amends for the events of 12 months ago when they kick off their UEFA Champions League play-off tie against Fenerbahçe SK at the Luzhniki Stadium.

• Spartak crashed out of the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League play-offs after following up a 2-2 away draw with a 3-2 home defeat against Legia Warszawa.

• Fenerbahçe are back in Europe after a one-season absence, looking to improve on their 2010/11 showing, which saw them lose out to BSC Young Boys in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round and then PAOK FC in the UEFA Europa League play-offs.

Match background
• In this first meeting of two clubs who were runners-up in their respective leagues, Spartak are looking to advance to an 11th UEFA Champions League campaign. Fenerbahçe are seeking their first involvement since 2008/09 and seventh in total, and can take heart from having beaten SC Vaslui 5-2 overall in the third qualifying round.

• Although Spartak appeared in the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League, they have lost their last two qualifying ties for the group stage, going down 8-2 on aggregate to FC Dynamo Kyiv in 2008/09 and 4-3 on penalties to Celtic FC in 2007/08 after a 2-2 draw. On each occasion they failed to win their home leg. Their overall record in ties at this final stage of UEFA Champions League qualification is W3 L3.

• Fenerbahçe's record in their six ties at this stage is W4 L2 and they have won on their last two attempts – beating FK Partizan (4-3 agg) in 2008/09 and RSC Anderlecht (3-0 agg) in 2007/08.

• Spartak's only previous meetings with Turkish opposition saw them draw 0-0 away and then win 2-1 at home against Galatasaray AŞ in the 1993/94 UEFA Champions League group stage. Valeri Karpin, now Spartak's general manager, hit the winner that latter fixture.

• Fenerbahçe's only previous encounter with Russian opponents saw them beat PFC CSKA Moskva 3-1 at home in December 2007 to reach the UEFA Champions League knockout stage for the first time, following a 2-2 first-leg draw in their first meeting.

• That 2-2 draw in Moscow saw Miloš Krasić score against Fenerbahçe, who he joined from Juventus this summer, while another future Fenerbahçe winger, Caner Erkin, featured for the Army Men in the second leg.

• Still at Fenerbahçe, Alex opened the scoring for the club in both legs of that CSKA tie.

Team ties
• In his time as Valencia CF coach, Spartak boss Unai Emery oversaw 4-0 (away) and 6-1 (home) wins over another Turkish side, Bursaspor, in the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League group stage. Emery's team at Mestalla included Mehmet Topal, who joined Fenerbahçe this summer.

• Spartak's Diniyar Bilyaletdinov played alongside Fenerbahçe's Joseph Yobo at Everton FC in 2009/10 and has faced the Yellow Canaries' Dirk Kuyt several times – in Merseyside derbies against Kuyt's Liverpool FC and in internationals against the Netherlands, including Russia's 3-1 victory in the UEFA EURO 2008 quarter-finals.

• Fenerbahçe's Kuyt and Spartak's Demy de Zeeuw (Netherlands) are international team-mates, as are Fenerbahçe's Yobo and Spartak's Emmanuel Emenike (Nigeria).

• Emenike joined Spartak from Fenerbahçe in the summer of 2011 having not played a competitive game for the Istanbul club in a two-month spell after arriving from Karabükspor in May of that year.

• Spartak's De Zeeuw scored past Volkan Demirel when his AZ Alkmaar team drew 3-3 at Fenerbahçe en route to a 5-5 aggregate draw – and away goals victory – in the 2006/07 UEFA Cup round of 32. Alex and Semih Şentürk also featured for Fenerbahçe.

• Spartak's Kim Källström and Fenerbahçe's Kuyt each scored in Sweden's 3-2 UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying win over the Netherlands last October, while the Swede's Olympique Lyonnais side took four points off Kuyt's Liverpool in the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Fenerbahçe's Moussa Sow – a one-time colleague of Spartak's Källström at Stade Rennais FC – scored home and away for LOSC Lille Métropole against CSKA in the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League group stage, including in a 2-0 victory in Moscow.

• Fenerbahçe's Miroslav Stoch struck Slovakia's goal in a 1-0 UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying success against a Russia side including Spartak's Bilyaletdinov as a substitute in Moscow in September 2010.