Friends to be reunited in north London

Tottenham Hotspur FC's young Croatian playmaker Luka Modrić will be up against his old side just months after leaving NK Dinamo Zagreb as the English club face their first UEFA Cup game under new manager Harry Redknapp.

• Signed from the youth ranks at his local side NK Zadar, Modrić joined Dinamo in 2002 before moving to White Hart Lane this summer for €20.5m (£16.5m).

• The 2006/07 Croatian league Player of the Year won three successive titles in his final three seasons at Dinamo, the latter two being doubles. He will be up against a raft of former team-mates as Dinamo come to White Hart Lane.

• Two Dinamo players have experience of Premier League football.

• Defensive midfielder Igor Bišćan left Dinamo for Liverpool FC midway through the 2000/01 season and played three games at White Hart Lane in all competitions, drawing one and losing one in the Premier League but emerging as a winner on penalties in a 1-1 2004/05 League Cup fixture. He left Liverpool for Panathinaikos FC in 2005.

• Forward Boško Balaban had an ill-fated spell at Aston Villa FC after leaving Dinamo. Between 2001 and 2004 he made just eight league appearances for the club and failed to score in any of them.

• This is the teams' first meeting in UEFA club competition, but Spurs have played three two-legged UEFA club competition ties against Dinamo's arch-rivals HNK Hajduk Split – their only games against Croatian opponents.

• Of those matches, they have won four and lost two with both of those defeats coming in Croatia.

• Tottenham fans may remember that an away goals win against Hajduk took them to the final of the 1983/84 UEFA Cup, as they lost 2-1 in Split but triumphed 1-0 at home. Steve Archibald was on target in the away leg while Micky Hazard scored the winner for Keith Burkinshaw's side at White Hart Lane.

• The Tottenham lineup for that latter game on 25 April 1984 was:
Tottenham: Tony Parks, Danny Thomas, Chris Hughton, Graham Roberts, Paul Miller, Steve Perryman, Micky Hazard, Steve Archibald, Mark Falco, Gary Stevens (Gary Mabbutt, 80), Tony Galvin.

• Dinamo have played eight games against English sides in European competition, and visited north London in the 2006/07 season as they lost 5-1 on aggregate to Tottenham's local rivals Arsenal FC in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League.

• They have yet to win against side from England, drawing twice and losing six times, with one draw and three defeats on English soil.

• This is Dinamo's third UEFA Cup group-stage campaign, but they are still looking for a first away win in the competition, with one draw and three defeats their current record.

• Tottenham, meanwhile, are playing in their third successive UEFA Cup group stage and won three and lost one of their home games.

• Spurs are also one positive result short of 50 wins in the UEFA Cup.

• Tottenham have changed manager since their last UEFA Cup game, with Juande Ramos being dismissed and replaced by Harry Redknapp, who kicked off the group stage as boss of Portsmouth FC, losing 3-0 in their opener at SC Braga.

• Redknapp came up against Croatian opposition in the form of NK Osijek in his days as West Ham United FC boss in the 1999/00 UEFA Cup first round, winning 3-0 at home and 3-1 away.

• This is Dinamo coach Branko Ivanković's first game against English opponents.

• Tottenham kicked off their Group D campaign with a disappointing 2-0 defeat at Udinese Calcio, with Jamie O'Hara being dismissed for two bookable offences. Dinamo won 3-2 at home against NEC Nijmegen, with Marijo Mandžukić, Balaban and Ivica Vrdoljak scoring the home side's goals in Zagreb.

• O'Hara is suspended for this match following his red card in Udine while team-mate Gareth Bale is within a booking of a one-match ban.

• FC Spartak Moskva are at home against Udinese in Matchday 2's other Group D game. NEC are the only team in the section not in action on Thursday.