Dinamo desperate to avoid record-equalling defeat

GNK Dinamo Zagreb will make another attempt to end their losing run in the UEFA Champions League at home to FC Dynamo Kyiv. Should the visitors prevail it would be the second successive season Dinamo have lost all six group fixtures and would equal RSC Anderlecht's competition record of 12 consecutive defeats.

• On matchday five Dinamo lost 3-0 at FC Porto and the task of averting another defeat now falls to Krunoslav Jurčić, who was in charge for last season's UEFA Champions League campaign and replaced Ante Čačić as coach on 26 November for his third spell in charge at Dinamo.

• Last time out Dynamo went down 2-0 at home to Paris Saint-Germain FC, though they are assured of finishing third in Group A.

• The matchday two encounter between the teams in Kyiv was Oleh Blokhin's first UEFA Champions League match as a coach and he celebrated a 2-0 victory courtesy of Oleh Gusev's early header and a Josip Pivarić own goal.

• While Dinamo have lost both their previous Group A fixtures in Zagreb 2-0, against Porto and PSG, Dynamo have been beaten twice on their travels, going down 4-1 at PSG on matchday one and 3-2 at Porto.

Previous meetings
• The sides met in the third qualifying round of the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League, Dynamo winning 3-1 at home and 2-0 away.

• That was the only other time the Ukrainian club have faced opponents from Croatia. Dinamo tackled FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in the 2003/04 UEFA Cup second round (0-2 home, 1-1 away) and FC Shakhtar Donetsk in the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League third qualifying round (0-2 away, 1-3 home).

Match background
• Champions of Croatia for the seventh year in succession in 2011/12, when they completed the domestic double, Dinamo are taking part in the group stage for a fourth time.

• As in 2011, Dinamo came through three qualifying rounds, but they have not picked up a point since a 2-2 draw at Olympique de Marseille on 2 November 1999. Their last win in the competition proper came earlier in that group, 3-0 at home to SK Sturm Graz on 29 September 1999.

• Dinamo lost all six group games last season, going down 1-0 at home to Real Madrid CF, 2-0 against AFC Ajax and 7-1 against Olympique Lyonnais. They conceded 22 goals, a UEFA Champions League group stage record, but scored three times; this time round they are still waiting for their first goal. Only RC Deportivo La Coruña (2004/05) and Maccabi Haifa FC (2009/10) have failed to find the net in a group stage.

• Dynamo are involved in their 14th UEFA Champions League campaign, and first since 2009/10, when they drew two away games and lost the other. They have not won in six away games in the competition proper, but won both away matches in qualifying this season.

Team ties
• Niko Kranjčar (2001–04) and Ognjen Vukojević (2006–08) have both had spells with Dinamo. Kranjčar played 84 league matches, scoring 19 goals, and took part in both 2003/04 matches against Dynamo, scoring Dinamo's goal in the first leg. Vukojević managed 11 goals in 66 league matches.

• Vukojević played with Ivan Kelava and Sammir while with Dinamo.

• Kranjčar and Vukojević play alongside Kelava, Josip Šimunić, Domagoj Vida, Šime Vrsaljko and Mateo Kovačić for Croatia.

• Kranjčar also played for HNK Hajduk Split from 2005 to 2006.

• Tonel and Miguel Veloso were team-mates at Sporting Clube de Portugal from 2006 to 2010 and also, briefly, played together in the Portuguese national side.

• Šimunić and Vukojević played 90 minutes in Croatia's goalless draw against Ukraine in Kharkiv in a FIFA World Cup qualifier on 11 October 2008.

• Šimunić again played the full game, Vukojević appearing as a second-half substitute, as Croatia played out a 2-2 draw with Ukraine in the reverse fixture in Zagreb on 6 June 2009.

• Raffael and Šimunić were team-mates at Hertha BSC Berlin between 2008 and 2009.