Dortmund hold aces for Zenit visit

Borussia Dortmund had a convincing home victory in last season's UEFA Champions League round of 16 encounter with FC Shakhtar Donetsk and will be looking for a repeat performance to complete their tie against FC Zenit.

• A year ago Dortmund won 3-0 against their Ukrainian visitors with Jakub Błaszczykowski on target. It followed a 2-2 draw in Donetsk when Mats Hummels notched a late equaliser and Robert Lewandowski also scored.

• Lewandowski added two more goals to his UEFA Champions League tally as Dortmund triumphed 4-2 at Zenit on 25 February to close in on a second successive quarter-final appearance.

• This is only the second time Zenit have made it to this stage. In 2011/12 the Russian side beat SL Benfica 3-2 at home, Roman Shirokov registering twice, but lost 2-0 away.

• Luciano Spalletti was dismissed as Zenit coach on 11 March; Sergei Semak will take charge of the team on an interim basis.

Previous meetings
• Zenit and Dortmund met for the first time in the first leg.

• BVB's previous encounter with Russian opposition came 11 years ago. In the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League second group stage the German team faced FC Lokomotiv Moskva, winning 3-0 at home and 2-1 in the Russian capital. They also recorded a 1-0 victory at FC Alania Vladikavkaz in the 1993/94 UEFA Cup first round, drawing 0-0 at home.

• Zenit's record in Germany is W2 D2 L2. Prior to 2007/08, Zenit had not defeated a German club in European competition. Under Dutch coach Dick Advocaat, however, they played five games against Bundesliga sides in their triumphant UEFA Cup campaign.

• They first drew 2-2 at home to 1. FC Nürnberg in the group stage and then prevailed 4-1 away to Bayer 04 Leverkusen – whose team included BVB's Manuel Friedrich – in the quarter-finals before losing 1-0 at home. In the last four they followed up a 1-1 draw at FC Bayern München by winning 4-0 at the Stadion Petrovski.

• As holders, Zenit took on VfB Stuttgart in the following season's round of 32, winning 2-1 home and away against a side containing Julian Schieber. The Russian outfit went out 2-1 on aggregate to Udinese Calcio in the last 16.

Match background
• Runners-up last term, Dortmund's 2013/14 challenge was boosted by home successes against Olympique de Marseille and SSC Napoli. However, they also went down 1-0 at home to Arsenal FC yet finished above the Gunners in the standings thanks to away victories over Arsenal and, decisively, Marseille on matchday six. Jürgen Klopp's men have won eight of their last nine UEFA Champions League home matches.

• This is the first time in 16 years that Dortmund have qualified for the UEFA Champions League knockout phase two seasons running. The last time they managed it was in 1996/97, when they lifted the trophy under Ottmar Hitzfeld, and 1997/98.

• Of the 12 UEFA competition ties in which they won the first leg away, Dortmund have triumphed on aggregate 11 times. The sole exception came against KRC Genk in the 2004 UEFA Intertoto Cup third round when a 1-0 away success preceded a 2-1 home defeat and elimination on away goals. They have won 4-2 away first time round just once before, against FK Lyn, when they also prevailed 3-1 in Dortmund.

• Zenit have lost all three ties in which they succumbed at home in the first leg, all in the UEFA Cup: against 1. FC Dynamo Dresden in the 1981/82 first round (1-2 home, 1-4 away), Stuttgart in the 1989/90 second round (0-1 home, 0-5 away) and Bologna FC in the 1999/2000 first round (0-3 home, 2-2 away).

• Zenit qualified for the knockout rounds for only the second time in their history with six points, a record low tally for a successful UEFA Champions League group stage. Away from home, they won 1-0 at FC Porto but lost 3-1 at Group G winners Club Atlético de Madrid and 4-1 at FK Austria Wien in their last fixture. They nevertheless came second, ten points behind Atlético but one ahead of both Porto and Austria.

• Dortmund's shoot-out record in UEFA competitions is:
3-4 v Udinese Calcio, 2008/09 UEFA Cup first round
2-4 v Club Brugge KV, 2003/04 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round
3-1 v Rangers FC, 1999/2000 UEFA Cup third round
6-5 v AJ Auxerre, 1992/93 UEFA Cup semi-finals

• Zenit have never been involved in a UEFA competition shoot-out.

Team ties
• The injured Błaszczykowski, who is no longer part of Dortmund's UEFA Champions League squad, scored in Poland's 1-1 draw with a Russia team including Vyacheslav Malafeev, Aleksandr Anyukov, Konstantin Zyryanov, Shirokov, Aleksandr Kerzhakov and Andrey Arshavin in a UEFA EURO 2012 group stage game in Warsaw. Łukasz Piszczek and Lewandowski also figured for the co-hosts.

• Russia's next fixture was against Sokratis Papastathopoulos's Greece, a 1-0 defeat ending their participation in the tournament.

• Papastathopoulos also played for Greece in a November 2011 friendly against Russia, for whom Shirokov netted in a 1-1 draw. Malafeev, Anyukov, Zyryanov and Arshavin all appeared in Piraeus.

• Anatoliy Tymoshchuk represented Bayern from 2009 to 2013, winning the Bundesliga in 2010 and 2013 and the UEFA Champions League last year. He tackled Dortmund on four occasions, recording two wins, a draw and a defeat.

• Neven Subotić and Aleksandar Luković have played together for Serbia.