Half-time score favours Espanyol

RCD Espanyol will be eager to get back to winning ways after a 0-0 draw at Maccabi Haifa FC in the first leg of this Round of 16 tie ended their run of seven straight UEFA Cup victories.

• The Israeli side managed to keep free-scoring Espanyol players Walter Pandiani and Luis García – who have 13 goals between them in this season's competition - at bay. However, that success came at a cost with both Abas Suan and Dirceu Xavir picking up bookings which leave them suspended for the second leg.

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

• Maccabi reached the knockout phase after finishing second in Group A. They then pulled off a shock by beating PFC CSKA Moskva in the Round of 32, drawing 0-0 in Vladikavkaz before winning 1-0 at home. Maccabi had never previously qualified for the last 16 of a UEFA competition and coach Roni Levy called the victory "one of the greatest moments of my career".

• Espanyol reached the Round of 32 as Group F winners - one of only two clubs along with Tottenham Hotspur FC to win all four matches - and they then beat AS Livorno Calcio 2-1 away and 2-0 at home to progress to the last 16. After drawing 2-2 at FC Artmedia in the first leg of their first-round tie, they won seven European games in a row before drawing at Maccabi.

• Maccabi's Chilean defender Rafael Olarra has some experience of Spanish football having played five Primera División games for CA Osasuna in the 2001/02 season.

• Espanyol's Uruguayan striker Pandiani is currently the joint-top scorer in this season's UEFA Cup having scored eight goals since the first round. FC Dinamo 1948 Bucuresti's Claudiu Niculescu scored eight in the same period but his side were eliminated in the Round of 32.

• Maccabi's only previous meeting with Spanish opposition ended badly for the Israeli side. Drawn against Valencia CF in the 2003/04 UEFA Cup second round, they earned a surprising 0-0 draw at the Mestalla Stadium but lost 4-0 at home in the return leg.

• The first leg of that tie saw current Haifa goalkeeper Nir Davidovich feted in both the Israeli and Spanish press. The game was also Levy's first European match in charge of the club.

• Espanyol's only previous experience of Israeli opposition came in the 2005/06 UEFA Cup group stage where they beat Maccabi Petach-Tikva FC 1-0 at home. The first leg against Maccabi Haifa was their first game on Israeli soil.

• CA Osasuna, RC Celta de Vigo and Sevilla FC are the other Spanish clubs still in contention in the competition.

• The winners of the tie will enter the draw for the final rounds of the competition in Glasgow on Friday 16 March. No teams will be seeded in the draw and, for the first time in this season's competition, teams from the same national association may be drawn against each other.