Metalist hope home form shuts down Dynamo

FC Metalist Kharkiv will look to end a run of two successive defeats against FC Dynamo Kyiv and book their place in the UEFA Cup quarter-finals as their guests defend a 1-0 first-leg lead in Kharkov.

• Ognjen Vukojević's headed goal was just reward for Dynamo's attacking endeavour in the first leg in Kiev, but the first all-Ukrainian tie in UEFA club competition history is far from over.

• 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, plus 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 championships 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 15 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 in those games read P24 W12 D10 L2, with a goal difference of 36-16 in Dynamo's favour.

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

• The two teams met in Kharkov on 4 March in their opening fixture after the Ukrainian Premier League's winter break. Dynamo won 2-0, with Taras Mikhalik breaking the deadlock 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 reverse to reach the group stage, where they lost 2-0 at Dynamo before prevailing 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.

• Defeat at Dynamo ended Metalist's seven-match unbeaten run in the UEFA Cup. However, their home form remains daunting, with three wins and a draw in Kharkov in the UEFA Cup this season and only one goal conceded.

• Metalist have kept clean sheets in all but two of their seven European club competition home games since making their continental debut in the 1988/89 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. They have only been beaten once at home, 3-2 by Everton FC in last season's UEFA Cup first round.

• Dynamo are unbeaten in their last four European games.

• Dynamo have lost only one of their six European away games this season – 1-0 at Arsenal FC – since starting their campaign in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League.

• Metalist have twice recovered from first-leg defeats to win European ties. They lost 2-0 at FK Borac Banjaluka in their first ever European game but turned the 1988/89 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup first-round tie around with a 4-0 home win. Then, this season, they lost their UEFA Cup first-round opener 1-0 at Beşiktaş JK but overcame the Turkish side 4-1 in Ukraine.

• Dynamo have gone from first-leg victory to overall defeat in five European ties: against VfB Stuttgart (1973/74 UEFA Cup third round), AS Saint-Etienne (1975/76 European Champion Clubs' Cup quarter-finals), VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach (1976/77 European Champion Clubs' Cup semi-finals), Rangers FC (1987/88 European Champion Clubs' Cup first round) and most recently FC Barcelona (1993/94 UEFA Champions League first round).

• 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.

• Metalist have never been involved in a penalty shoot-out in UEFA club competition.

• Dynamo won their only UEFA club competition shoot-out to date, beating AC Sparta Praha 3-1 on penalties after a 1-1 aggregate result in the second qualifying round of the 1998/99 UEFA Champions League.

• Metalist's Seweryn Gancarczyk is suspended, while his team-mates Jajá, Gueye and Denys Oliynyk are a booking shy of a ban.

• Dynamo have Vukojević suspended and Olexandr Aliyev within a booking of a lay-off, but Andriy Nesmachniy and Badr El Kaddouri are available again after serving suspensions.

• 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.