Dinamo Zagreb v Shakhtar Donetsk facts

A Matchday 3 draw in Ukraine kept Dinamo Zagreb and Shakhtar Donetsk level on points in Group C and they now resume their rivalry in Zagreb for a potentially pivotal encounter.

• Both sides might have taken three points at the OSK Metalist Stadion in Kharkiv on 22 October, Yevhen Konoplyanka giving the home side an early lead before goals from Dani Olmo and Mislav Oršić, a penalty, turned the match in Dinamo's favour; Dodô's 75th-minute equaliser earned Shakhtar a draw and ensured the teams go into this game in Croatia level on four points, five behind section leaders Manchester City and four above Atalanta.

Previous meetings
• The sides' only past fixtures before Matchday 3 came in the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, Shakhtar winning both matches. The Ukrainian side triumphed 2-0 in the Donetsk first leg, before a 3-1 success in Zagreb.

• Darijo Srna, now Shakhtar's assistant coach, scored the club's opening goal of that tie, with goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov playing all 180 minutes.

Form guide
Dinamo
• An Oršić hat-trick helped Dinamo to a 4-0 defeat of Atalanta in Zagreb in their first Group C game, making the 26-year-old the first player to hit three goals for a Croatian club in a UEFA Champions League group encounter. They then lost 2-0 at Manchester City.

• Dinamo have won only five of their 39 matches in the UEFA Champions League group stage (D6 L28); they suffered six defeats in their most recent participation, in 2016/17. They had lost 11 successive matches, and won only one of 27 (D2 L24) – a 2-1 defeat of Arsenal in Zagreb in September 2015 that ended a 16-year wait for a victory in the competition proper – before beating Atalanta.

• The 2-0 loss at City on Matchday 2 was Dinamo's 13th successive away defeat in the UEFA Champions League group stage, since a 2-2 draw at Marseille on 2 November 1999 – a run of defeats that was ended at Shakhtar.

• Dinamo are unbeaten in nine home European fixtures (W7 D2). A second-leg loss to Young Boys in last season's UEFA Champions League play-offs (1-2) is their only defeat in the last 14 such matches (W10 D3).

• Dinamo claimed their 13th Croatian league title in 14 seasons in 2018/19 – and 20th in all – but their UEFA Champions League campaign came to an early end with a play-off defeat against Young Boys. Moving into the UEFA Europa League, the Zagreb club finished first in their section before getting the better of Viktoria Plzeň in the round of 32, then bowing out after extra time against Benfica in the last 16 (1-0 h, 0-3 a).

• Nenad Bjelica's side started this season's UEFA Champions League in the second qualifying round, easing past Georgia's Saburtalo 5-0 on aggregate (2-0 a, 3-0 h) before a 5-1 victory over two games against Ferencváros of Hungary (1-1 h, 4-0 a). They then overcame Rosenborg in the play-offs, winning 2-0 at home before a 1-1 draw in Norway.

• The Zagreb club have never beaten Ukrainian opposition in UEFA competition, home or away (D3 L8); they have been defeated in four of the five home games, the exception a 1-1 draw against Dynamo Kyiv in the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League group stage secured by an Ivan Krstanović penalty five minutes into added time that ended Dinamo's 11-match losing streak in the competition proper.

• This is Dinamo's seventh UEFA Champions League group campaign overall, and fifth in nine seasons. They have failed to qualify from the group stage in all six previous attempts. In fact, 2018/19 marked the first time in 14 UEFA club competition group stage campaigns – including eight in the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League – that the Croatian club had made it through to the next phase.

Shakhtar
• Beaten 3-0 by Manchester City in Kharkiv on Matchday 1, Shakhtar came from behind to win 2-1 at Atalanta in their first away fixture, substitute Manor Solomon scoring the winning goal five minutes into added time.

• Shakhtar have won only two of their last ten UEFA Champions League matches (D4 L4).

• The Donetsk club picked up four points away from home in last season's group stage; the win at Atalanta was only their third in their last 13 away UEFA Champions League matches, group stage to final (D2 L8).

• Quarter-finalists in 2010/11, Shakhtar won only one of their six matches in last season's group stage, collecting six points to finish behind Manchester City and Lyon in Group F. They then went down 6-3 on aggregate to Eintracht Frankfurt in the UEFA Europa League round of 32 (2-2 h, 1-4 a).

• Shakhtar have got out of their UEFA Champions League group in three of their last six participations.

• The Pitmen's 2008 games against Dinamo were their only contests against a Croatian club before this season.

• Shakhtar qualified as winners of the Ukrainian league, claiming the title for the 12th time in 2018/19, when they completed a domestic double for the third season in succession.

Links and trivia
• Shakhtar assistant coach Srna won a record 134 caps for Croatia, scoring 22 goals. As a player with Hajduk Split, he won the Croatian league title in 2001 and the domestic cup in 2000 and 2003.

• Current Shakhtar coach Luís Castro worked with Dinamo's Ivo Pinto in Porto's youth teams between 2008 and 2011.

Latest news

Dinamo
• Petar Stojanović's next appearance in UEFA club competition will be his 50th.

• On Saturday, 17-year-old Joško Gvardiol scored the only goal as Dinamo beat Inter Zaprešić 1-0, his first senior goal on his third appearance.

• On 30 October Dinamo defeated Opatija 3-0 in the last 16 of the Croatian Cup. All goals were scored in the first half, Mario Gavranović finding the net twice after Damian Kądzior's opener.

• Kądzior had also got the only goal as Dinamo were 1-0 winners against Osijek on 27 October, making it six in his last seven Dinamo appearances; he had scored in three successive matches before drawing a blank on Saturday.

• Dinamo have won their last five league matches, since a 1-0 loss at Varaždin in the eighth round of matches on 21 September. That was Dinamo's second league defeat of the season, as many as they suffered in the whole of 2018/19.

• Amer Gojak has not played since suffering an ankle injury against Osijek, when he was withdrawn early in the first half.

• Dinamo captain Arijan Ademi was out between 10 and 22 October due to an ankle problem; he has not played since suffering a recurrence against Shakhtar on Matchday 3.

• Mislav Oršić has 13 goals in 19 appearances in all competitions for Dinamo this season, including nine in his last nine matches.

• Dinamo kicked off the new season with a 1-0 win against Rijeka in the Croatian Super Cup on 13 July.

Shakhtar
• Luís Castro replaced his Roma-bound compatriot Paulo Fonseca as Shakhtar head coach in June.

• Shakhtar opened this season with a 2-1 Ukrainian Super Cup loss to Dynamo Kyiv, their third defeat in four years in the competition against their great rivals.

• That was Shakhtar's only domestic defeat this season until 30 October when they lost to the same opponents by the same scoreline after extra time in the Ukrainian Cup round of 16.

• Shakhtar's perfect start to the league season, in which they had scored 36 goals scored and conceded six, was ended by a goalless draw at home to Olexandriya on 27 October.

• The Donetsk club had previously won all 11 league games this season, and were on a 13-match winning run in the competition overall stretching back to 2018/19.

• On Saturday, Shakhtar won 3-0 at Karpaty to end their three-game winless run in all competitions.

• Shakhtar are now unbeaten in 42 league games (W36 D6), since a 1-0 away loss to Dynamo Kyiv on 3 August 2018.

• Júnior Moraes has 12 goals and five assists in Shakhtar's 18 competitive matches this season.

• Marlos has six goals and three assists in 17 games for Shakhtar this season while captain Taison has six goals and six assists in his 15 appearances.

• Ismaily (face), Marlos (muscle), Serhiy Kryvtsov (muscle) and Yevhen Konoplyanka (groin) missed Saturday's game; Manor Solomon was substituted early in the second half having suffered a hamstring injury.