Leverkusen and United pushing for last 16

Bayer 04 Leverkusen and Manchester United FC meet at the BayArena on matchday five both hopeful of confirming their qualification for the UEFA Champions League knockout stage.

• Group A leaders United and second-placed Leverkusen would guarantee progress with victory. Should FC Shakhtar Donetsk lose against Real Sociedad de Fútbol in the section's other game, both United and Leverkusen would progress with a draw.

Previous meetings
• Leverkusen overcame United on away goals when the clubs met for the first time in the 2001/02 semi-finals.

• That tie began with a 2-2 first-leg draw at Old Trafford, United leading twice through a Boris Živković own goal (29) and Ruud van Nistelrooy penalty (67) and Leverkusen responding through Michael Ballack (62) and Oliver Neuville (75). Neuville's 45th-minute equaliser back in Germany cancelled out a Roy Keane goal (28), earning Klaus Toppmöller's Leverkusen a 1-1 draw on the night and victory on away goals.

• Ryan Giggs is the only survivor in either squad of that 2002 meeting in Germany while Phil Neville, now United's first-team coach, was an unused substitute. Dimitar Berbatov, a future United player, featured for Leverkusen.

• United avenged that defeat by beating Leverkusen home and away in the 2002/03 first group stage. Giggs and Neville played in United's 2-1 away success in September 2002, Van Nistelrooy (31, 44) scoring twice before Berbatov (52) pulled a goal back.

• United then prevailed 2-0 back at Old Trafford, Juan Sebastian Verón (42) and Van Nistelrooy (69) scoring after Jan Šimák's early penalty miss for the visitors. United advanced to the second group stage as section winners, with Leverkusen in second place.

• The lineups for that last encounter in Leverkusen on 25 September 2002 were:
Leverkusen: Juric, Živković, Ramelow, Lúcio, Balitsch (França 81), Babić, Ojigwe (Šimák 64), Schneider, Basturk, Brdaric, Neuville (Berbatov 22).
Manchester United: Barthez, O'Shea (G Neville 46), Blanc, Ferdinand, Silvestre, Beckham, Neville, Butt, Verón (Solskjær 88), Giggs, Van Nistelrooy (Forlán 46).

Match background
• Leverkusen have responded well since losing 4-2 at Old Trafford on matchday one, picking up seven points from their three games since.

• With their victories over Real Sociedad and Shakhtar, the German club have now recorded eight consecutive home wins in the UEFA Champions League group stage, including their 2011/12 and 2004/05 campaigns.

• Leverkusen came from behind to defeat their last English visitors, Chelsea FC, 2-1 in the 2011/12 group stage, Eren Derdiyok equalising before Manuel Friedrich's added-time winner. Their overall home record against Premier League teams is W3 D2 L4.

• United won 2-0 at FC Schalke 04 in the 2010/11 semi-final first leg, Giggs and Wayne Rooney scoring on their most recent visit to Germany. Their overall record away to Bundesliga opposition is W4 D4 L4.

• United have drawn both away games so far in Group A. They last failed to record a single away win in the group stage in 2005/06.

• United won their second European Cup with a 2-1 victory over FC Bayern München in the 1998/99 final in Barcelona.

Team ties
• Hyypiä spent a decade at Liverpool FC from 1999 to 2009, making 318 Premier League appearances.

• The Finn scored his first goal in English football in Liverpool's 3-2 home loss to United in September 1999 and earned his only red card as a Liverpool player in a 4-0 defeat at Old Trafford in April 2003. The previous month he had appeared in Liverpool's 2-0 League Cup final triumph against the Old Trafford club.

• Hyypiä's last away game as a Liverpool player was a 4-1 triumph at United in March 2009. In 21 appearances overall against United, he had a creditable record of W10 D2 L9.

• Moyes and Hyypiä were involved in ten Merseyside derby fixtures against each other as Everton FC manager and Liverpool player respectively. Hyypiä won five times with Moyes prevailing twice.

• Moyes' only previous visit to Germany as a manager brought a 2-0 win with Everton at 1. FC Nürnberg in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup group stage.

• Shinji Kagawa hit the only goal in Borussia Dortmund's 1-0 win against Leverkusen in February 2012. Overall his record against Leverkusen was W1 D1 L1.

• Son Heung-Min was in the South Korea team beaten on penalties by Kagawa's Japan in the semi-finals of the 2011 AFC Asian Cup.

• Robbie Kruse was in the Australia side thrashed 6-0 by Patrice Evra's France in a Paris friendly on 11 October this year.

• Nani and Emir Spahić were both on the scoresheet when the former's Portugal beat the latter's Bosnia and Herzegovina 6-2 in a UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying play-off in Lisbon.

• Derdiyok scored in Switzerland's 2-1 friendly defeat in February 2008 against an England side including Rooney, Rio Ferdinand and Ashley Young.