Spartak seeking Celtic payback

FC Spartak Moskva have a score to settle when they welcome Celtic FC to the Stadion Luzhniki for their second Group G encounter.

• Spartak suffered UEFA Champions League elimination at Celtic's hands in the 2007/08 third qualifying round, losing on penalties after two draws. They must improve on a poor sequence of home results in the group stage, however, while Celtic have similar worries over their away record in the competition.

• While Celtic were held 0-0 at home by SL Benfica on matchday one, Spartak came close to a famous win at FC Barcelona, eventually succumbing 3-2.

Past meetings
• The teams played out two 1-1 draws in their 2007/08 tie. Paul Hartley opened the scoring after 21 minutes of the first leg in Moscow, with Roman Pavlyuchenko equalising (42) for Stanislav Cherchesov's hosts.

• The lineups for that meeting on 15 August 2007 were:
Spartak: Pletikosa, Shishkin, Kováč, Stranzl, Şoavă, Mozart, Torbinski, Bystrov (Kalynychenko 74), Titov, Pavlyuchenko, Welliton.
Celtic: M Brown, Wilson, McManus, Kennedy, Naylor, Hartley, S Brown, Nakamura, Donati (Sno 75), McDonald (Caldwell 80), Vennegoor of Hesselink (McGeady 83).

• In a dramatic second leg on 29 August, Pavlyuchenko struck an early penalty against a post before scoring the 45th-minute equaliser that cancelled out Scott McDonald's goal (27). Spartak lost Martin Stranzl to a red card (85) but Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink's spot kick against the crossbar in extra time ensured the contest went to a shoot-out.

• Shunsuke Nakamura missed for Celtic but Artur Boruc saved from Yegor Titov and Maxym Kalynychenko to secure a 4-3 win for Gordon Strachan's side. Scott Brown and Aiden McGeady both started for Celtic, the latter now at Spartak having moved in August 2010. John Kennedy, who played in the first leg, now coaches Celtic's Under-20 team.

Match background
• Spartak beat Fenerbahçe SK 2-1 at the Stadion Luzhniki in the play-offs but in four separate UEFA Champions League group stage campaigns since 2001 they have played 12 home games, winning just one of them – 3-0 against MŠK Žilina in September 2010. The last time they advanced to the last 16, in 2000/01, they won all three home fixtures.

• Celtic will want to improve on a damaging away record in the UEFA Champions League. Since their first group stage campaign in 2001/02, they have lost 19 of 20 matches on the road – the one exception a 1-1 draw at Barcelona in November 2004.

• Celtic do know what it takes to win in Moscow having prevailed 2-0 at FC Dinamo Moskva on their only other visit, for a UEFA Champions League third qualifying round tie in August 2009. Tony Mowbray's side had lost the first leg in Glasgow 1-0 but fought back to win at the Arena Khimki through goals from McDonald and Giorgos Samaras, only to lose to Arsenal FC in the play-offs.

• While Samaras and Scott Brown are the sole survivors of that Celtic side, there are three players in Spartak's squad who were involved in that tie: McGeady, then of Celtic, plus former Dinamo duo Dmitri and Kirill Kombarov.

• Neil Lennon's visitors recorded two away wins in qualifying this season – 2-0 successes at HJK Helsinki and Helsingborgs IF.

Team ties
• As Valencia CF coach, Unai Emery faced Celtic's city rivals Rangers FC in the 2010/11 group stage, earning a 1-1 draw in Glasgow and a 3-0 victory back in Spain.

• McGeady made 251 appearances for Celtic in all competitions and scored 37 goals during a six-year spell between 2004 and 2010.

• Marek Suchý played in the Czech Republic's 1-0 home win against Scotland in UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying in October 2010.

• With Olympique Lyonnais, Kim Källström suffered a 3-0 home loss to Rangers in the 2007/08 group stage but made amends with a 3-0 success in Glasgow.

• Emmanuel Emenike and Efe Ambrose are international colleagues with Nigeria while Källström plays alongside Mikael Lustig.