Valencia block Dynamo path

After missing out on a place in the UEFA Champions League first knockout round, FC Dynamo Kyiv's opening opponents in their bid for a first UEFA Cup crown are 2003/04 competition winners Valencia CF.

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

• Dynamo have played 21 games against Spanish teams, including a 3-0 victory over Club Atlético de Madrid in Lyon in the final of the 1985/86 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.

• Their overall record against clubs from Spain reads W5 D7 L9, while they have accrued W3 D4 L3 from their ten home meetings with Spanish visitors.

• Dynamo have gone eight European games without a win against Liga representatives.

• Valencia's only experience of Ukrainian opposition consists of two UEFA Champions League group-stage fixtures against Dynamo's fierce rivals FC Shakhtar Donetsk. They beat Mircea Lucescu's side 2-0 at home and drew 2-2 in Ukraine in the 2006/07 edition of the élite competition.

• Former Dynamo striker Oleg Salenko, who top scored for Russia at the 1994 FIFA World Cup finals with six goals, also played for Valencia in 1994/95.

• Dynamo coach Yuri Semin was in charge of previous club FC Lokomotiv Moskva for eight games against Spanish sides. His overall record in those encounters reads W1 D2 L5, with the four home matches ending W1 D1 L2.

• This is Unai Emery's first game against Ukrainian opposition. The journey to Kiev, which will be his fourth European away day as Valencia coach, is by far his longest since taking charge of Los Ché.

• Each of Dynamo's four goals in Group G of this season's UEFA Champions League was scored by a different player, with Ismaël Bangoura, Olexandr Aliyev, Artem Milevskiy and Roman Eremenko all finding the net.

• Valencia's top European scorers this season are Fernando Morientes with three goals and Nikola Žigić, now back at former team Real Racing Club on loan, with two.

• Dynamo have scored at least once in their last ten European games on home soil, though their results have been mixed. Their record in those matches reads W3 D3 L4.

• Valencia are unbeaten in their last four European away games and have yet to lose a UEFA Cup match under Emery. His coaching record in continental football to date reads W3 D3 L0.

• Runners-up in the Ukrainian Premier League last season, Dynamo finished third in UEFA Champions League Group G to reach the UEFA Cup Round of 32. Valencia, winners of the Copa del Rey in 2007/08, were second in UEFA Cup Group G.

• Dynamo's Olexandr Aliyev is suspended. Badr El Kaddouri and Andriy Nesmachniy are within a booking of one-match suspensions, as are Valencia's David Albelda, Hugo Viana and David Villa.

• January squad changes:-
Dynamo Kyiv
Players added to squad list: Guilherme, Diogo Rincón, Serhiy Kravchenko.
Players removed from squad list: Emmanuel Okoduwa, Malkhaz Asatiani, Olexandr Romanchuk.
Valencia
Added: César Sánchez, Thiago Carleto.
Removed: Timo Hildebrand, Iván Helguera, Nikola Žigić.

• The winners of this tie will take on UC Sampdoria or FC Metalist Kharkiv in the Round of 16 on 12 and 18/19 March, and will play the first leg at home. Should Dynamo and Metalist both progress, it would be the first time two Ukrainian sides have met in UEFA club competition.