Dynamo Kyiv stand between Maccabi and first win

Maccabi Tel-Aviv FC host their first UEFA Champions League group stage fixture for 11 years and both they and FC Dynamo Kyiv will be striving for three points in Group G.

Previous meetings
• The sides previously met in the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League group stage. It finished 1-1 in Tel Aviv and 3-3 in Ukraine.

• Ideye Brown put Yuri Semin's men ahead in the first game. Dor Mikha, one of three of the Maccabi team still at the club, equalised for Elfasi Jack's charges before half-time.

• Oleh Gusev scored twice in the return encounter while Yevhen Khacheridi was one of two Dynamo players sent off.

• The lineups in Tel Aviv on 29 September 2011 were :
Maccabi: Haimov, Nivaldo, Alberman (Logasi 46), Medunjanin, Dabbur (Itzhaki 62), Ziv, Mikha, Yeini, Colautti, Vered, Punčec (Israilevich 71).
Dynamo: Shovkovskiy, Danilo Silva, Betão, Vukojević, Popov, Shevchenko, Aliyev (Gusev 60), Yarmolenko, Brown (Milevskiy 83), Garmash (Haruna 27), Yussuf. 

Match background

Maccabi
• The Tel-Aviv club, back in the competition after 11 years, began with a 4-0 defeat at Chelsea FC on matchday one.

• The Israeli double winners secured only their second participation in the UEFA Champions League group stage by eliminating FC Basel 1893 on away goals in the play-off round, drawing 2-2 away and 1-1 at home.

• Eran Zahavi scored seven goals in the qualifying rounds, in which Maccabi first emerged triumphant against Hibernians FC, winning 5-1 at home after a 2-1 away defeat.

• In the third qualifying round Maccabi again lost the first leg – 2-1 at home to FC Viktoria Plzeň before winning 2-0 away, Zahavi twice on the scoresheet.

• The last time Maccabi were in this elite company, in 2004/05, they had the misfortune of sharing a group with three former winners: FC Bayern München, Juventus and AFC Ajax. Maccabi finished fourth.

Dynamo
• Returning to the UEFA Champions League after an absence of two seasons, Dynamo Kyiv rescued a point on matchday one when substitute Vitaliy Buyalskiy's late goal earned a 2-2 draw against FC Porto.

• The Ukrainian double winners are in their 15th group stage campaign. In 2012/13 they finished third in Group A, eight points behind runners-up Porto.

• They began that edition with a 4-1 defeat at Paris Saint-Germain and also lost at Porto before a 1-1 draw away to GNK Dinamo Zagreb. They have not won in seven away games in the competition proper, while home and away their record is four victories in their last 31 group stage encounters.

Coach and player links 
• Gusev and Andriy Yarmolenko scored in Ukraine's 3-2 victory over an Israel team who included Yuval Shpungin, Zahavi and Tal Ben Haim I in a friendly in Petach-Tikva on 29 February 2012. Khacheridi, Olexandr Shovkovskiy and Denys Garmash were also involved for the visitors.

• Ben Basat scored for an Israel XI including Ben Haim I and Shpungin in a 3-3 draw against Miguel Veloso's Portugal in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier in Tel Aviv. 

• Basat also scored for an Israel side including Ben Haim I and Zahavi in a 1-1 draw against Portugal in the return qualifier on 11 October 2013.         

Match facts

Maccabi
• Maccabi followed up their matchday one result with a 2-1 home defeat by Hapoel Ra'anana FC on 20 September – their first Liga ha'Al loss of the season.

• Saturday's 2-0 win at Maccabi Haifa FC ended Maccabi's run of three games without a win in league and UEFA Champions League. Eden Ben Basat's first goal since 8 February opened the scoring before 20-year-old Dor Peretz wrapped up the win with his first league goal.

• Nosakhare Igiebor missed the last two games with a muscular injury while Dejan Radonjić has a back problem.

Dynamo
• Dynamo are 37 Ukrainian Premier League matches unbeaten. They have not lost in the top flight since a 2-1 reverse at FC Metalurh Donetsk on 27 April 2014 and beat FC Hoverla Uzhhorod 2-0 on Saturday.

• Gusev rounded off the scoring from the spot in Dynamo's 2-0 win at FC Volyn Lutsk on 20 September – his 100th goal for the club. His 101st followed against Hoverla.

• Yevhen Makarenko, fit again after an Achilles injury, made his first appearance in 12 months as the White-Blues prevailed 2-0 at FC Obolon-Brovar Kyiv in their Ukrainian Cup round of 16 first leg on 23 September.

• Niko Kranjčar's outing in that game was his first for Dynamo since 17 March 2013, the midfielder having spent the last two seasons on loan at Queens Park Rangers FC.