Villa look to counter CSKA's Zico factor

Brazilian coach Zico will take charge of 2004/05 UEFA Cup winners PFC CSKA Moskva for the first time when they travel to Birmingham for the first leg of their Round of 32 tie against Aston Villa FC.

• This will be the two clubs' first meeting in European competition.

• Valeri Gazzaev ended his long association with CSKA in December 2008 and former Brazil international Zico was named his successor in January this year. "CSKA are a big European club with a rich tradition of winning. I'm a winner too and will do my best to continue Valeri Gazzaev's success," said the new man at the helm.

• Zico won the Turkish league title as coach of Fenerbahçe SK in 2006/07 and went on to win the league and cup double with Uzbek club FC Bunedkor in 2008.

• Villa's only previous tie against Russian opponents came against FC Spartak Moskva in the second round of the 1983/84 UEFA Cup. They drew 2-2 in Moscow but lost 2-1 in the return at Villa Park.

• CSKA have won one, drawn one and lost three of their five previous competitive matches against English sides. Their last two visits to England yielded a draw and a defeat, though they are unbeaten in two games against Premier League opponents.

• Russian clubs have played a total of 18 games on English soil, and their record reads W5 D5 L8. Four of the five wins were achieved by Spartak and one by FC Zenit St. Petersburg.

• Part of the CR Flamengo squad that beat Liverpool FC 3-0 in the 1981 European/South American Cup, Zico won one and lost two of his three matches against English clubs while at the Fenerbahçe helm.

• His charges lost 1-0 away against a Newcastle United FC team featuring current Villa winger James Milner in the 2006/07 UEFA Cup group stage. The following season Fener were drawn against Chelsea FC in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League, winning 2-1 in Istanbul only to bow out after a 2-0 defeat in west London.

• Villa manager Martin O'Neill has never met Russian club opposition as a coach or a player, though he did appear for Northern Ireland in a 1-1 UEFA European Championship qualifying draw against the former USSR in Belfast on October 1971.

• CSKA boast the leading scorer in this season's UEFA Cup in eight-goal Vágner Love. Their next most dangerous marksman, Alan Dzagoev, has found the net three times.

• Only two players have scored more than once for Villa since the first round: Gareth Barry and Nathan Delfouneso.

• Villa lost their last two UEFA Cup group-stage games after fielding a number of fringe players at home against MŠK Žilina and away to Hamburger SV.

• Prior to the Žilina defeat, they had gone eight European games unbeaten since their campaign began in the third round of the 2008 UEFA Intertoto Cup.

• Of the eleven sides that progressed to the UEFA Cup from the UEFA Intertoto Cup this season, four are still in the competition: Villa, SC Braga, RC Deportivo La Coruña and VfB Stuttgart. UEFA traditionally awards a plaque to the UEFA Intertoto Cup side that lasts the longest in the UEFA Cup.

• CSKA have won all six of their UEFA Cup games this season – three at home and three away – and were the only side to finish the group stage with a maximum 12-point haul.

• Before this campaign began, CSKA had gone seven European away games without a win.

• Third in Russia in 2007, CSKA reached the Round of 32 as the top side in Group H. Villa, who finished sixth in the English top flight in 2007/08, came third in Group F.

• Villa's Steve Sidwell is serving a one-match suspension after being dismissed in their last group stage game. Craig Gardner is also within a booking of a suspension.

• CSKA's Anton Grigoriev and Deividas Šemberas are also suspended for this game, while Yuri Zhirkov will be banned if he picks up another yellow card.

• January squad changes:-
Villa
Players added to squad list:Emile Heskey, Eric Lichaj.
Players removed from squad list:Wayne Routledge, Stephen O'Halloran, Zoltán Stieber.
CSKA
Players added to squad list: Daniel Carvalho.
Players removed from squad list: Dawid Janczyk, Dmitri Abakumov.

• The winners of this tie will face FC Shakhtar Donetsk or Tottenham Hotspur FC in the Round of 16 on 12 and 18/19 March, and will play the first leg at home.

• The Round of 16 could therefore include a third all-English UEFA Cup tie. Wolverhampton Wanderers FC met Tottenham in the 1971/72 final while Spurs took on Liverpool in the semi-finals the following season.