Knockout specialists face off in Donetsk

Two teams boasting rich domestic cup pedigrees are set to meet in the UEFA Cup Round of 32, where FC Shakhtar Donetsk kick off their bid to claim the trophy for the first time with a home clash against two-time winners Tottenham Hotspur FC.

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

• Tottenham have never faced Ukrainian opposition before.

• Shakhtar's only previous European encounters against an English side came in the first group stage of the 2000/01 UEFA Champions League. They were beaten 3-2 away by Arsenal FC on 20 September 2000 but won the return 3-0 at home on 7 November.

• Shakhtar's Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu has been in charge for six UEFA club competition games against English top-division sides while at the helm of FC Internazionale Milano, Galatasaray AŞ and Beşiktaş JK, but has yet to taste victory.

• His European coaching record against English clubs reads W0 D3 L3, with one draw and two defeats coming at home.

• Lucescu also coached Romania in two 1986 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against England, which finished 0-0 at home and 1-1 away. What is more, the former attacker was up front for FC Dinamo 1948 Bucureşti in a 1-1 home draw with West Bromwich Albion FC in the second round of the 1968/69 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.

• When those results are taken into account, Lucescu's record in nine games against English clubs reads W0 D6 L3.

• Harry Redknapp, who replaced Juande Ramos as Tottenham manager on 26 October, has never come up against Ukrainian opponents before.

• Shakhtar academy graduate Serhiy Rebrov was a Spurs player between 2000 and 2004, scoring ten goals in 60 league appearances. He is now with Russian champions FC Rubin Kazan.

• Shakhtar midfielder Darijo Srna and Tottenham counterpart Luka Modrić are both regular starters for the Croatian national team.

• Spurs' Brazilian midfielder Gilberto, who has seen little action since joining the club from Hertha BSC Berlin in January 2008, played under Lucescu at Inter in 1998/99. He made just two Serie A appearances that season.

• Jadson is Shakhtar's top European scorer this season with four UEFA Champions League group-stage goals and one more in qualifying. Olexandr Gladkiy and Fernandinho also found the net twice in Group C.

• Darren Bent is Tottenham's leading scorer in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup with four goals. Tom Huddlestone, who has two strikes to his name, is the only other Spurs player to register more than once.

• Tottenham's 2-0 loss at Udinese Calcio in the group stage was their first defeat in eight European away games.

• Hailing from the coal-rich Donbass region, Shakhtar's name literally means 'Miner'. Their nicknames, Hirnyky (the Pitmen) and Kroty (the Moles), also refer to their colliery roots.

• The 'Hotspur' in Tottenham's name is reputedly a reference to Sir Thomas Percy, the 'Harry Hotspur' of William Shakespeare's Henry IV Part I, who lived in north London in the 14th century.

• Shakhtar are one of six sides in the UEFA Cup who qualified for Europe this season as domestic champions. The others are R. Standard de Liège (Belgium), Olympiacos CFP (Greece), Aalborg BK (Denmark), Galatasaray AŞ (Turkey) and FC Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia).

• Both Spurs and Shakhtar have a reputation as domestic cup specialists. Though the pair have also won league titles, Tottenham twice claiming the English crown and Shakhtar boasting four Ukrainian championships, they have long been sides to be feared in knockout competition. Shakhtar have won four USSR Cups and a further six Ukrainian ones, while Spurs have won eight FA Cups and four League Cups.

• Shakhtar finished third in UEFA Champions League Group C to reach the UEFA Cup Round of 32. Tottenham, who came eleventh in the 2007/08 Premier League but won the League Cup, finished second in UEFA Cup Group D.

• Shakhtar's Tomáš Hübschmann is suspended for the first leg, while team-mates Dmytro Chygrynskiy, Olexandr Kucher and Dario Srna will miss the second leg if they are booked again, with Tottenham's Gareth Bale in the same position.

• January squad changes:-
Shakhtar
Players added to squad list: Nery Castillo.
Players removed from squad list: Brandão.
Tottenham
Players added to squad list: Carlo Cudicini, Pascal Chimbonda, Wilson Palacios, Simon Dawkins, Leigh Mills, Tomáš Pekhart.
Players removed from squad list: Alan Hutton, César Sánchez, Danny Rose, Andy Barcham, Kieran McKenna, Dorian Dervite.

• The winners of this tie will take on Aston Villa FC or PFC CSKA Moskva in the Round of 16 on 12 and 18/19 March, and will play the second 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.