Villa thriller awaits CSKA coach Zico

Zico helped PFC CSKA Moskva avoid defeat in their seventh successive UEFA Cup tie this season in his first game as the Russian team's coach and will now look to finish the job against Aston Villa FC in Moscow.

• Vágner Love scored the first goal of Zico's CSKA tenure to put his side ahead at Villa Park, but John Carew replied to earn the English side a 1-1 draw against the 2004/05 UEFA Cup winners.

• Vágner Love is the top scorer in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup with nine goals. Gareth Barry and Nathan Delfouneso are Villa's top scorers with two goals each since the first round.

• The first leg was the two sides' first meeting in European club competition.

• Valeri Gazzaev ended his long association with CSKA in December 2008 and former Brazilian 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.

• Prior to the first leg, 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's record in six games against English sides now reads W1 D2 L3. Their two home games against clubs from England ended in a win and a defeat.

• 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 went down 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.

• Prior to the first leg, Villa manager Martin O'Neill had 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 in October 1971.

• CSKA have only taken part in one penalty shoot-out in UEFA club competition. They lost 7-6 on penalties against Ferencvárosi TC after the pair had drawn 3-3 on aggregate in the 1994/95 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup first round.

• Villa won their only UEFA competition shoot-out to date, beating FC Internazionale Milano 4-3 on spot-kicks after a 1-1 aggregate draw in the 1994/95 UEFA Cup first round.

• 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.

• The 3-1 loss at Hamburg ended Villa's run of five European away games without defeat.

• 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.

• Prior to the game at Villa, CSKA had 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.

• 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.

• CSKA's Anton Grigoriev and Deividas Šemberas are available again after serving one-match bans, but team-mate Yuri Zhirkov is within a booking of a lay-off. Villa welcome back Steve Sidwell from suspension, but have Craig Gardner and Stiliyan Petrov walking the disciplinary tightrope.

• 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.