Champions League Official Live football scores & Fantasy
Get
UEFA.com works better on other browsers
For the best possible experience, we recommend using Chrome, Firefox or Microsoft Edge.

Dynamo out to finish off Mönchengladbach

FC Dynamo Kyiv hold a healthy first-leg advantage, with VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach needing to overturn a 3-1 deficit in their play-off to deny their hosts a group stage return.

Dynamo celebrate their first-leg victory
Dynamo celebrate their first-leg victory ©AFP/Getty Images

FC Dynamo Kyiv are well placed to reach the UEFA Champions League group stage for the first time since 2009/10, with VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach needing to turn round a 3-1 UEFA Champions League play-off deficit.

• In their first European Cup tie since reaching the semi-finals in 1978, Mönchengladbach made an ideal first-leg start as Alexander Ring gave them a 13th-minute lead, but goals from Taras Mikhalik (28) and Andriy Yarmolenko (36) turned the tie in Dynamo's favour. A late own goal from Luuk de Jong left the Ukrainian side in charge of the tie.

Past meetings
• The teams' sole previous encounter came in the semi-finals of the 1976/77 European Champion Clubs' Cup when Mönchengladbach overcame a 1-0 loss in Kyiv – Volodymyr Onyschenko the scorer – thanks to a 2-0 home victory, courtesy of Rainer Bonhof's first-half penalty and a Hans-Jürgen Wittkamp goal with eight minutes remaining. Mönchengladbach's reward was a final date with Liverpool FC in Rome, where they ran out 3-1 losers.

• Onyschenko is still with Dynamo, where he is deputy director of the club's football department and head of the club's youth academy. Bonhof is now Mönchengladbach's vice president.

Match background
• While Mönchengladbach finished fourth in the 2011/12 Bundesliga, Dynamo were runners-up in Ukraine last season and beat Feyenoord 3-1 on aggregate in the third qualifying round.

• Yuri Semin's Dynamo are bidding to reach the group stage of the UEFA Champions League for the 15th time overall and the first time since 2009/10. They suffered defeats by AFC Ajax in the 2010/11 play-offs and by FC Rubin Kazan in last term's third qualifying round.

• Dynamo's record against German clubs is P27 W12 D5 L10 (W8 D3 L2 at home, W4 D2 L7 in Germany). Among those victories are the 1-0 away win and the 2-0 home success against FC Bayern München that secured the 1975 UEFA Super Cup.

• For Mönchengladbach, this is the first taste of European football since their 1996/97 UEFA Cup campaign when they eliminated Arsenal FC before losing to AS Monaco FC in the second round.

Team ties
• As FC Lokomotiv Moskva coach, Semin won 1-0 at Bayern in the 1995/96 UEFA Cup first round, only for his team to go down 5-0 in the return. Semin's Lokomotiv lost home and away to first VfB Stuttgart in the 1997/98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup semi-finals, and then Borussia Dortmund in the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Mönchengladbach boss Lucien Favre's previous visit to Ukraine as a coach resulted in a goalless draw for Hertha BSC Berlin at FC Metalist Kharkiv in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup group stage. Raffael, who played under Favre at Hertha between 2008 and 2010, was a late substitute.

• Dynamo's Admir Mehmedi scored past Mönchengladbach's Marc-André ter Stegen in Switzerland's 5-3 friendly win over Germany in May this year. Mehmedi is an international colleague of Mönchengladbach's Granit Xhaka.

• Dynamo's Yarmolenko scored in Ukraine's 3-3 friendly draw with Germany in Kyiv last November.

• Mönchengladbach's Martin Stranzl was in the FC Spartak Moskva side beaten 8-2 on aggregate by Dynamo in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League in 2008/09.

• While playing for Club Atlético de Madrid, Mönchengladbach's Álvaro Domínguez got the better of a Sporting Clube de Portugal side featuring Dynamo's Miguel Veloso in the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League round of 16, winning on away goals. With the Spain Under-21 side, meanwhile, Domínguez enjoyed victories over a Ukraine team featuring Dynamo's Denys Garmash and Yarmolenko in the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship group stage – Garmash was sent off – and then Mehmedi's Switzerland in the final.

• Mönchengladbach's De Jong scored past Dynamo's Denys Boyko when the Netherlands took on Ukraine in a play-off for those same U21 finals – but it was Ukraine who progressed on away goals after a 3-3 aggregate draw.

• Striker and 1986 Golden Ball winner Ihor Belanov left Dynamo for Mönchengladbach in 1989 and hit four goals in 24 league appearances in 18 months with the club.

Selected for you