Hoffenheim v Shakhtar Donetsk facts

Hoffenheim and Shakhtar Donetsk are fast running out of time to kick-start their flagging UEFA Champions League campaigns as they meet in the penultimate round of Group F fixtures.

• The sides' matchday one meeting marked the German club's group stage debut, and it might have been a winning start as they twice led, through Florian Grillitsch and Håvard Nordtveit. Goals from Ismaily and Maycon, the latter with nine minutes remaining, ensured Shakhtar claimed a draw.

• The Ukrainian side have been able to add only one further point to their total since then and sit bottom of the section, one place and one point behind Hoffenheim, who are still seeking a first UEFA Champions League victory. Second-placed Lyon have six points, with Manchester City out in front on nine.

• Hoffenheim will be out of contention for a top-two finish if they lose, or if they draw and Lyon avoid defeat at home to City. A win keeps Hoffenheim in contention regardless of the other result. Shakhtar will be out of contention for a top-two finish if Lyon win or if both games are drawn. Shakhtar will be confirmed in fourth place if they lose.

Form guide
Hoffenheim
• After that debut draw at Shakhtar, the German club's home UEFA Champions League bow fell flat as they were undone by a late Manchester City goal to lose 2-1 at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena on matchday two. They then drew home (3-3) and away (2-2) against Lyon, scoring a late equaliser in both games.

• Third in last season's Bundesliga – their highest ever finish – Hoffenheim made their European bow against eventual runners-up Liverpool in last season's UEFA Champions League play-offs (1-2 home, 2-4 away).

• They went on to pick up five points in the UEFA Europa League group stage, finishing fourth in a section that also included Braga, Ludogorets and İstanbul Başakşehir.

• Hoffenheim lost their first two European home matches before beating İstanbul Başakşehir 3-1 on matchday three of last season's UEFA Europa League; they subsequently drew 1-1 against Ludogorets.

• Die Kraichgauer have won only one of their 12 European matches, home and away. Both they and their opponents have scored at least once in all 12 of those games. Having lost the first four, they have been beaten only twice in the last eight.

• Hoffenheim are the 13th German club to feature in the UEFA Champions League – a joint competition record with Spain.

Shakhtar
• The Ukrainian club's first two games both finished 2-2, Shakhtar following the Hoffenheim draw by letting slip a two-goal lead at Lyon. The Ukrainian champions then lost 3-0 to Manchester City in Kharkiv – equalling their worst home defeat in UEFA club competition – and 6-0 in Manchester.

• Shakhtar qualified as winners of the Ukrainian league, claiming the title for the 11th time in 2017/18, when they completed a domestic double for the second season in succession.

• Quarter-finalists in 2010/11, Shakhtar reached the last 16 of the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League, losing to Roma on away goals (2-1 home, 1-0 away).

• Shakhtar lost three of their four away games in last season's competition, the exception a 2-1 success at Feyenoord on matchday three. They had won their previous five away games – all in the UEFA Europa League – before 2017/18.

• The Ukrainian side have got out of their group in three of their last five participations.

• This is only the second time Shakhtar have been drawn alongside German opposition in the UEFA Champions League group stage; they picked up a single point from their two games against Bayer Leverkusen in 2013/14 (0-4 away, 0-0 home).

• Shakhtar have lost only one of their last six games against German clubs, home and away (W1 D4). Their record in away games with Bundesliga clubs is W3 D1 L5, a 3-0 win at Schalke in February 2016, their most recent, ending a run of three successive defeats in which they scored no goals and conceded 14, including a record 7-0 defeat at Bayern München in the 2015/16 UEFA Champions League round of 16.

Links and trivia
• Andrej Kramarić scored both goals as Croatia won 2-0 in Ukraine on the final day of qualifying for the 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying to earn a play-off place; Andriy Pyatov, Yaroslav Rakitskiy, Mykola Matviyenko, Taras Stepanenko, Marlos and Viktor Kovalenko were all in the home side.

• Kasim Nuhu played all 180 minutes as Switzerland's Young Boys knocked out Shakhtar's domestic rivals Dynamo Kyiv in last season's UEFA Champions League third qualifying round. He also featured twice against Dynamo when the teams were reunited in the UEFA Europa League group stage.

• Shakhtar forward Olarenwaju Kayode and Hoffenheim winger Felipe Pires were Austria Wien team-mates in 2016/17.

Latest news

Hoffenheim
• Hoffenheim had won four successive Bundesliga games, beating Augsburg 2-1 on 10 November, before being held 3-3 at Hertha Berlin on Saturday.

• Substitute Reiss Nelson, who scored the winner against Augsburg only two minutes after his introduction, has six goals in eight Bundesliga appearances this season, playing 328 minutes in total.

• Julian Nagelsmann's side have kept only one clean sheet this season, in the 4-0 defeat of Stuttgart on 27 October – also their biggest win.

• Hoffenheim have not been involved in a 0-0 draw since 20 May 2017. Their 18 games this season in all competitions have yielded 71 goals.

• Andrej Kramarić scored in Croatia's 3-2 win against Spain on 15 November and the 2-1 loss at England three days later, both in the UEFA Nations League. He has scored in his last five games for club and country.

• Ádám Szalai scored in Hungary's 2-0 UEFA Nations League home wins against Estonia on 15 November and Finland three days later.

• Stefan Posch scored Austria's first-leg winner in their UEFA European Under-21 Championship play-off against Greece as his side reached the finals for the first time.

• Vincenzo Grifo made his Italy debut as a half-time substitute in a 1-0 friendly win against the United States on 20 November.

• Florian Grillitsch has been sidelined since 7 November with a toe injury.

• Nadiem Amiri (out since mid-August, foot surgery), Benjamin Hübner (3 August, concussion) and Dennis Geiger (10 March, hamstring) are all back in training.

• Lukas Rupp has not played this season after suffering a knee injury on 5 May.

• On 21 November Joelinton extended his contract until 2022.

Shakhtar
• Matchday four was Shakhtar's biggest defeat in all competitions since a 7-0 loss at Bayern München on 11 March 2015.

• Shakhtar began this season with a 1-0 loss to Dynamo Kyiv in the Ukrainian Super Cup on 21 July.

• That and the 1-0 defeat against the same opponents in Kyiv on 3 August are the only domestic games Shakhtar have lost this season.

• Shakhtar beat Dynamo 2-1 on 3 November, and were 2-0 victors away to Vorskla Poltava eight days later, making it four league wins in a row. That sequence was ended by Friday's goalless draw at home to Lviv.

• The Pitmen are undefeated in their last 14 domestic games, winning 12 of them.

• Shakhtar have scored 33 goals in their last 13 league games, conceding six.

• Summer signing Júnior Moraes has scored 14 goals in 21 games for Shakhtar in all competitions.

• Sergii Kryvtsov suffered a thigh injury and had to be replaced in the 14th minute of Ukraine's 4-1 loss in Slovakia in their final UEFA Nations League game on 15 November, and missed Shakhtar's game on Friday.

• Mykola Matviyenko, Taras Stepanenko and substitute Viktor Kovalenko also featured in Slovakia; Matviyenko, Kovalenko and substitute Serhiy Bolbat also played in a 0-0 friendly draw in Turkey four days later.

• Ivan Ordets has not played this season because of a thigh complaint, while Marlos has been out since 19 October with an unspecified injury.*

• Fernando suffered an ankle problem in Shakhtar's 3-2 win against Olimpik Donetsk on 31 October; he subsequently underwent surgery which is likely to sideline him for the rest of the year.*

• Bogdan Butko and Oleg Danchenko have been training individually, although Júnior Moraes returned against Lviv after suffering a minor injury at Vorskla.