Dynamo and Metalist make Ukrainian history

History will be made in the Round of 16 as two Ukrainian sides meet in a UEFA club competition for the first time, with FC Dynamo Kyiv looking to put an end to FC Metalist Kharkiv's fairy-tale run.

• Dynamo's Round of 32 triumph against Valencia CF and Metalist's success over UC Sampdoria set up this unlikely meeting, guaranteeing Ukraine at least one place in the quarter-final draw. Metalist's attacking midfielder Edmar said: "Who could have predicted that we'd reach the last 16? It's even more pleasing that we'll meet Dynamo."

• Five teams from the former Soviet Union – Dynamo, Metalist and FC Shakhtar Donetsk from Ukraine and Russia's PFC CSKA Moskva and holders FC Zenit St. Petersburg – reached the Round of 16, and with Shakhtar and CSKA meeting in another tie, at least two are sure to be in the next phase of the competition.

• The Kiev branch of the Dynamo sports society first opened in 1927, and Dynamo Kyiv – or Dinamo Kiev as they were known in Soviet times – were to provide the most sustained challenge to the big Moscow clubs during the days of the USSR.

• Dynamo won a record 13 Soviet titles and nine USSR Cups before independence, and have now picked up 12 Ukrainian titles and nine Ukrainian Cups. In Europe, Dynamo won the 1974/75 and 1985/86 UEFA Cup Winners' Cups and the 1975 UEFA Super Cup.

• Metalist is literally translated as 'metal worker'. The club was founded in 1925 and initially sponsored by a local train construction plant.

• This is Metalist's third season in continental competition and their first taste of playing European football after the winter break. With only 14 UEFA club competition games to their name, they are by far the most inexperienced side left in the UEFA Cup.

• Metalist's biggest achievement to date came in 1988 when they won the USSR Cup, beating FC Dinamo Moskva 2-0 in the final.

• Metalist and Dynamo first met in 1961, when Metalist were known as FC Avangard Kharkiv, with the clubs drawing 0-0. In total, they met in 24 league games in the Soviet era, with Dynamo coming out on top. Their record against Metalist reads P24 W12 D10 L2. The goal difference in those matches was 36-16 in Dynamo's favour.

• The historic first meeting between Metalist and Dynamo post-independence took place on 7 March 1992, with the Kiev side winning 2-1. Dynamo's record against Metalist in league and cup games since independence reads P35 W27 D5 L3.

• The two teams met most recently in Kharkov on 4 March in their first game following the Ukrainian Premier League's winter break. Dynamo won 2-0, with Taras Mikhalik opening the scoring and in-form Artem Kravets adding a second following the dismissal of Metalist's Papa Gueye.

• Dynamo's Russian coach Yuri Semin said afterwards: "Did we try to hold anything back from Kharkiv before the UEFA Cup matches? No, we know each other well, so the result of the European fixture will depend on how the players feel on the day and some other factors."

• Semin has some prior experience of facing Ukrainian opposition in European club competition, with his FC Lokomotiv Moskva side coming up against both FC Shakhtar Donetsk and his current outfit in the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League.

• Semin's side beat Shakhtar 3-1 at home after a 1-0 away defeat to reach the group stage, where they lost 2-0 at Dynamo, and then won 3-2 in the return fixture.

• Metalist central defender Milan Obradović knows Semin well having played under the coach during his time at Lokomotiv between 2001 and 2003. The Serbian was a member of the Loko side that won the 2002 Russian title.

• Moldovan international defender Vitalie Bordian was also at Loko under Semin but did not play a league game for the club between 2002 and joining Metalist in 2004.

• Metalist midfielder Valentyn Sliusar started his career in Dynamo's second team, scoring once in 22 games for FC Dynamo-2 Kyiv before leaving the club in 1998.

• Dynamo are unbeaten in their last three European games.

• Dynamo have lost only once at home in six UEFA club competition games under Semin, going down 2-1 against FC Porto in this season's UEFA Champions League. They have scored at least once in their last 11 European home games since losing 3-0 to Olympique Lyonnais in the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Myron Markevich's Metalist lost their first 2008/09 UEFA Cup game 1-0 at Beşiktaş JK, but have not been beaten in seven European matches since.

• They are now on a run of five straight wins, and have not conceded since the start of the group stage. Márcio Nobre's late consolation for Beşiktaş in Metalist's 4-1 first round second-leg win was the last time they were breached in the competition, a run of 540 minutes.

• Metalist's last three UEFA Cup away games have all ended in 1-0 wins.

• Metalist's Brazilian striker Jajá was voted Ukrainian Player of the Year for 2008 in December after a poll of the country's top-flight players and coaches conducted by national sports newspaper Komanda.

• Jajá is Metalist's top UEFA Cup scorer this season with three goals since the first round.

• Both Artem Milevskiy and Kravets have scored two goals since the start of the UEFA Champions League group stage, and are thus Dynamo's most prolific European scorers this year. Milevskiy scored an additional five goals in the qualifying rounds of the UEFA Champions League.

• 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. They overcame Valencia on away goals to reach the Round of 16, drawing 1-1 in Ukraine and 2-2 in Spain.

• Metalist, who took third place in the Ukrainian Premier League last season, qualified for the Round of 32 as Group B winners. They then overcame Sampdoria, winning 1-0 in Genoa and 2-0 at home.

• Dynamo's Badr El Kaddouri and Andriy Nesmachniy miss the first leg through suspension, but Milevskiy returns following a one-match lay-off. Ognjen Vukojević and Olexandr Aliyev are within a booking of a ban, as are Metalist's Gueye and Seweryn Gancarczyk.

• The draw for the quarter-finals and semi-finals takes place in Nyon on 20 March, exactly two months before the final at the Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium in Istanbul on 20 May.