Onus on Celta as Spartak visit

Home advantage and an away goal look to have tilted RC Celta de Vigo's UEFA Cup Round of 32 tie against FC Spartak Moskva in the Spanish side’s favour.

• Celta may have been struggling in the Spanish league, but they looked the brighter side, despite freezing temperatures, in the first leg in Moscow. Antonio Núñez put them ahead before the break, but Spartak kept a foothold in the tie as Ukrainian Maxym Kalynynchenko equalised with a free-kick in the second half.

• Spartak qualified for the Round of 32 as the third-placed side in UEFA Champions League Group B. Celta finished second in UEFA Cup Group H.

• Prior to last week's first leg, the two sides had never met in European competition.

• Before this season, Spartak had been drawn against Spanish opposition seven times in European competition (winning three ties and losing four) and also faced Primera División teams in the UEFA Champions League group stage on four previous occasions.

• In total, their record of individual games against Spanish opposition now reads won seven, drawn six and lost ten.

• Before meeting Spartak, Celta had been drawn against Russian opposition just once, beating FC Zenit St. Petersburg 4-3 on aggregate in a 2000 UEFA Intertoto Cup final. They drew 2-2 in Russia and then won 2-1 at home to earn a UEFA Cup place.

• Celta's Romanian defender Gabriel Tamas previously played for Spartak, making 17 league appearances for the club in the 2004 and 2006 seasons.

• Russian players have proved to be a success at Celta in the past. Former Spartak stars Valeri Karpin and Aleksandr Mostovoi were key players at Celta during the 1990s. Karpin spent five seasons at the club while Mostovoi was there for eight seasons, earning the nickname 'Tzar' among local fans.

• Prior to the first meeting with Celta, Spartak coach Vladimir Fedotov had limited experience of Spanish opposition having twice played against Spain for the Soviet Union in 1972 UEFA European Championship qualifiers. He was a late substitute as his side won 2-1 at home and played for 83 minutes in the goalless draw in Spain.

• The first-leg lineups were:
Celta: Suárez, Ángel López, Tamas, Lequi, Placente, Núñez (Jonathan 73), Pablo García (Borja Oubiña 76), Iriney, De Ridder (Baiano 68), Canobbio, Gustavo López.
Spartak: Khomich, Jiránek, Kováč, Geder, Stranzl, Bystrov (Bazhenov 46), Torbinskiy (Boyarintsev 46), Titov, Mozart, Kalynychenko, Pavlyuchenko.

• The aggregate winners will face Werder Bremen or AFC Ajax in the Round of 16, playing the home leg on 8 March and the away second leg a week later.