Dynamo and Dinamo both look to improve

FC Dynamo Kyiv and GNK Dinamo Zagreb are eager to improve on recent UEFA Champions League results – including defeats on matchday one – when they meet in Ukraine.

• Both teams began Group A with a defeat, Dynamo going down 4-1 at Paris Saint-Germain FC while FC Porto were 2-0 winners in Zagreb, extending Dinamo's run of successive group stage defeats to seven.

Previous meetings
• The sides locked horns in the third qualifying round of the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League, Dynamo going through after winning 3-1 at home and 2-0 away.

• It is the only time the Ukrainian club have faced opponents from Croatia. Dinamo, though, tackled FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in the 2003/04 UEFA Cup second round – losing 2-0 at home and drawing 1-1 away – and FC Shakhtar Donetsk in the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, losing 2-0 away and 3-1 at home.

Match background
• Dynamo, runners-up in last season's Ukrainian Premier League, are involved in their 14th UEFA Champions League campaign. They were last at this stage in 2009/10 when they began with a 3-1 home win against FC Rubin Kazan.

• The Kyiv club did not win another game, however, losing 2-1 at home to both FC Internazionale Milano and FC Barcelona and finishing fourth in the group. Their defeat in Paris on matchday one this season means they have not won in six group games, losing four of those matches.

• This time, Dynamo came through two qualifying rounds, winning their first three fixtures. They overcame Feyenoord 2-1 at home and 1-0 away in the third qualifying round, then won 3-1 at VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach in the play-off first leg, going through despite a 2-1 home defeat.

• Champions of Croatia for the seventh year in succession in 2011/12, when they completed the domestic double, Dinamo are taking part in the group stage for the second season running and the fourth time in all.

• As in 2011, the Zagreb outfit came through three qualifying rounds, first overcoming PFC Ludogorets Razgrad with Domagoj Vida scoring the winner eight minutes into added time in a 4-3 aggregate success. Ante Rukavina struck Dinamo's other three goals in the tie.

• In the third qualifying round, FC Sheriff were defeated 1-0 away and 4-0 overall, before Tonel's first-half goal at NK Maribor confirmed Dinamo's progress in the play-offs after they had won 2-1 in Zagreb.

• The Croatian club lost all six group games last season, going down 2-0 at Olympique Lyonnais, 4-0 at AFC Ajax and 6-2 away to Real Madrid CF. They conceded 22 goals in all – a UEFA Champions League group stage record.

Team ties
• Niko Kranjčar and Ognjen Vukojević have both had spells with Dinamo, Kranjčar from 2001 to 2004 and Vukojević from 2006 to 2008. Kranjčar played 84 league matches for the club, scoring 19 goals, and took part in both 2003/04 games against Dynamo, scoring Dinamo's goal in the first leg; Vukojević struck 11 times in 66 league matches.

• Vukojević played with Ivan Kelava and Sammir while with Dinamo.

• Kranjčar and Vukojević play alongside Kelava, Josip Šimunić, Šime Vrsaljko, Mateo Kovačić and Vida for Croatia.

• Kranjčar also played for HNK Hajduk Split from 2005 to 2006.

• Tonel and Miguel Veloso were team-mates at Sporting Clube de Portugal from 2006 to 2010 and also, briefly, played together in the Portuguese national side.

• Šimunić and Vukojević played 90 minutes in Croatia's goalless draw against Ukraine in Kharkiv in a FIFA World Cup qualifier on 11 October 2008.

• Šimunić again played the full game, Vukojević appearing as a second-half substitute, as Croatia drew 2-2 with Ukraine in the reverse fixture in Zagreb on 6 June 2009.

• Raffael and Šimunić were team-mates at Hertha BSC Berlin between 2008 and 2009.