Juventus aim to follow in Shakhtar's steps

With FC Shakhtar Donetsk having already qualified for the knockout stages, Juventus travel to Ukraine knowing a point would be enough for them to join their hosts in the round of 16.

• A draw or better would give Juve Group E's other qualifying berth and condemn UEFA Champions League holders Chelsea FC to an early exit. Juventus could lose and still go through if the London club do not beat FC Nordsjælland, while Shakhtar need just a draw to guarantee first place.

• The Bianconeri are 15 games unbeaten in UEFA competition, since their 4-1 loss at Fulham FC in the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League round of 16.

• Shakhtar's 5-2 victory at Nordsjælland on matchday five ensured Mircea Lucescu's team of a place in the round of 16 for only the second time in their eight group stage campaigns. On the same night, Juventus beat Chelsea 3-0 to leapfrog their opponents into second place.

• On matchday two Shakhtar were the visitors for the first European match to be staged at the new Juventus Stadium. They took the lead through Alex Teixeira on 23 minutes only for Leonardo Bonucci to level two minutes later.

• Shakhtar started the campaign with a 2-0 home victory over Nordsjælland, also winning 2-1 there against Chelsea. 

• Juventus came from behind to draw their first two away games, rallying from two down at Stamford Bridge on matchday one before Mirko Vučinić scored a late equaliser at Nordsjælland. That extended their run of successive European draws to nine, a sequence broken by a 4-0 home win against the Danish champions on matchday four. 

Previous meetings
• The teams met in the 1976/77 UEFA Cup third round, when a 3-0 first-leg home victory for Juventus was enough to see them through. Shakhtar won 1-0 in Donetsk.

Match background
• That 1976 home win against Juve was Shakhtar's only success in their first 11 meetings with Italian opponents, before a 1-0 win against AS Roma in Donetsk in the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Juve overcame FC Dynamo Kyiv 5-2 on aggregate in the 1997/98 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals thanks to a 4-1 win in the away leg. When the teams met again in the group stage five seasons later Juve won 2-1 away and 5-0 at home.

Team ties
• Lucescu faced Juventus on nine occasions in the 1990s as coach of Serie A sides AC Pisa 1909, Brescia Calcio, AC Reggiana 1919 and FC Internazionale Milano. His only victory was Brescia's 2-0 home win on 14 March 1994 – four games were lost and the other four drawn. Lucescu's final league match against Juventus was Inter's 0-0 draw on 27 February 1999.

• Lucescu scored in Romania's 4-2 friendly defeat by Italy in Milan on 5 June 1976.

• Andrea Pirlo had two spells with Lucescu, making his professional debut under him for Brescia on 21 May 1995. Aged 16 years and two days, Pirlo was the club's youngest top-flight debutant. The two linked up again at Inter during 1998/99.

• Henrikh Mkhitaryan scored against Gianluigi Buffon on 12 October when Italy defeated Armenia 3-1 in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier in Yerevan. Pirlo's penalty opened the scoring; Claudio Marchisio, Andrea Barzagli, Bonucci, Sebastian Giovinco and substitute Emanuele Giaccherini all featured for the visitors.

• Eduardo opened the scoring in Croatia's 2-0 friendly victory against Italy in Livorno in August 2006.

• Fernandinho played alongside Lúcio when making his international debut for Brazil in a 3-2 defeat by Germany in Stuttgart on 10 August 2011.

• Vučinić suffered three defeats in the UEFA Champions League against Shakhtar while with Roma, playing 12 minutes in Donetsk on 22 November 2006 as the Ukraine club won 1-0 in the group stage. In 2010/11 Vučinić played in both legs of the round of 16 tie as Shakhtar won 3-2 away and 3-0 at home.

• Eduardo and Nicklas Bendtner were team-mates with Arsenal FC from 2007 to 2010.

• Alessandro Matri made his international debut for Italy against Ukraine in a Kyiv friendly on 29 March 2011, scoring the second goal in a 2-0 away win.