Lucescu and Gerets reunited in Donetsk

Mircea Lucescu and Erik Gerets will meet again in a different city as FC Shakhtar Donetsk look to build a decisive first-leg advantage at home against UEFA Cup quarter-final veterans Olympique de Marseille.

1) Match background

Previous meetings: none

Shakhtar's record against French clubs: P7 W3 D2 L2
Shakhtar's record at home against French clubs: P3 W1 D2 L0
Marseille's record against Ukrainian clubs: P4 W1 D3 L0
Marseille's record away against Ukrainian clubs: P2 W0 D2 L0

• Shakhtar have never lost at home against a French side, but both their most recent home meetings with Ligue 1 opponents have ended in draws.

• Shakhtar have played three knockout ties against French clubs, winning one and losing two.

• Marseille have met Shakhtar's Ukrainian rivals FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in two UEFA club competition ties, winning both of them. They triumphed 1-0 on aggregate in the 2003/04 UEFA Cup third round and won a 2006 UEFA Intertoto Cup tie on away goals after two draws.

• Both Shakhtar's Lucescu (2000-02) and Marseille's Gerets (2005-07) had spells at the helm of Galatasaray AŞ. This should motivate them yet further to reach this season's UEFA Cup final, which will be held at Fenerbahçe SK's Şükrü Saracoğlu Stadium in Istanbul on 20 May.

• The two coaches have met before with previous clubs. Lucescu's Galatasaray were paired with Gerets's PSV Eindhoven in the 2001/02 UEFA Champions League first group stage, with the Dutch outfit winning 3-1 at home and Galatasaray striking back 2-0 in Turkey. Thus honours are even going into the coaches' third competitive meeting.

• Lucescu has been in charge for 12 games against French clubs during his time at FC Rapid Bucureşti, Galatasaray and Shakhtar, with his overall record reading P12 W5 D3 L4. At home, his coaching record reads P6 W2 D3 L1.

• Gerets's only previous experience of Ukrainian opponents dates back to his days as PSV's right-back, when his side met Dnipro in the 1985/86 UEFA Cup second round. After a 2-2 draw in Eindhoven, the Dutch heavyweights bowed out following a 1-0 defeat in the former Soviet Union.

• Though ineligible for the remainder of Marseille's UEFA Cup campaign, Brazilian striker Brandão will at least have some useful insider information on Shakhtar, having left the Ukrainian club for the Stade Vélodrome in January. Brandão said: "I'm sad not to be able to play in this competition, but that is the rule and it has to be respected. I will be there and I will cheer OM on."

• The negotiations over Brandão's transfer led to cordial relations developing between the two clubs, with Marseille president Pape Diouf saying: "It's a pity that we have to meet now in the UEFA Cup as one of us will end up going out."

• Marseille boast Ukrainian talent in the form of 21-year-old goalkeeper Dmytro Nepogodov, though the club's reserve custodian has yet to be handed a first-team outing. OM also had a Ukrainian goalkeeper back in 1951/52, with Gamovka-born Pierre Pshenitchny making one league appearance.

• Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko expressed her gratitude to Shakhtar, FC Dynamo Kyiv and eliminated FC Metalist Kharkiv for their achievements after the three Premier League teams competed in the Round of 16, saying their success augured well for Ukraine's co-hosting of UEFA EURO 2012™.

• Diminutive Marseille striker Bakari Koné was recently named the Côte d'Ivoire's Player of the Year for 2008. The 27-year-old topped the poll ahead of FC Barcelona's Yaya Touré and R. Standard de Liège's Cyriac Gohi Bi.

• Ukrainian champions Shakhtar finished third in UEFA Champions League Group C to reach the UEFA Cup Round of 32, where they beat Tottenham Hotspur FC 2-0 at home before drawing the return leg 1-1 in London. They lost 1-0 at PFC CSKA Moskva in the first leg of their Round of 16 tie but progressed after a 2-0 home success.

• Shakhtar are the only team left in the UEFA Cup who qualified for Europe this season as domestic champions.

• Third in Ligue 1 last season, Marseille also finished third in UEFA Champions League Group D to qualify for the UEFA Cup Round of 32, where they beat FC Twente 7-6 on penalties in Enschede after trading 1-0 home defeats. They then edged out AFC Ajax to reach the last eight, trading 2-1 home wins over 90 minutes before clinching a 4-3 aggregate success thanks to Tyrone Mears's extra-time header in Amsterdam.

• The second leg, which will be Shakhtar's 50th UEFA Cup game, is to be played at the Stade Vélodrome on 16 April. The winners of this tie will meet Paris Saint-Germain FC or Dynamo in the semi-finals on 30 April and 7 May, playing the second leg at home. The winners of that semi-final will be the nominal home side in the final.

2) Form book
Shakhtar: Making their first appearance in a UEFA Cup quarter-final, Shakhtar have hit a rich vein of home form in Europe. They have won their last three matches at the RSC Olympiyskiy Stadium without conceding a goal, and scored nine themselves in the process.

Last five European games: WWDLW
Last five European home games: LLWWW
Top scorer (Europe): Jadson (5, including 4 in the UEFA Champions League)

Last five league games: WWWWL
Last five home league games: WWWWW
Top scorer (Premier League): Fernandinho (5)

Marseille: Marseille are appearing in their third UEFA Cup quarter-final, having won the previous two – in 1998/99 against RC Celta de Vigo and in 2003/04 against FC Internazionale Milano. They have needed penalties (against Twente, Round of 32) and extra time (against Ajax, Round of 16) to reach this stage this season.

Last five European games: DLWWD
Last five European away games: LLLWD
Top scorer (Europe): Mamadou Niang (5, including 3 in the UEFA Champions League)

Last five league games: WDWWW
Last five away league games: LWWWW
Top scorer (Ligue 1): Bakari Koné (8)

Disciplinary information:
Shakhtar: Tomáš Hübschman, Mykola Ischenko, Olexandr Kucher, Fernandinho and Darijo Srna are within a booking of a one-match ban.

Marseille: Hatem Ben Arfa, Benoît Cheyrou, Taye Taiwo, Bakari Koné, Mamadou Niang, Mathieu Valbuena and Karim Ziani will miss the second leg if they are cautioned in Donetsk.

3) Who are...

Shakhtar

Honours
• Domestic honours: 4 Ukrainian titles, 6 Ukrainian Cups, 4 USSR Cups

Trivia
• Founded in 1936 as FC Stakhanovets, the Donbass side took on their current name in 1946. Shakhtar's name literally means 'Miner'. Their nicknames, Hirnyky (the Pitmen) and Kroty (the Moles), also refer to their colliery roots.

• Shakhtar won four USSR Cups in the days of the Soviet Union and twice finished second in the league, in 1975 and 1979. In the latter season, Vitaliy Starukhin scored 26 goals and was named the Soviet Union's Player of the Year.

• Famous Shakhtar youth academy products include former Manchester United FC player Andrei Kanchelskis, one-time Russia captain Viktor Onopko and Serhiy Rebrov, while Shakhtar old boy Anatoliy Konkov was a member of the USSR squad that came second at the 1972 UEFA European Championship.

Marseille

Honours
• UEFA Champions League: 1992/93
• UEFA Intertoto Cup: 2005, 2006
• Domestic honours: 8 French titles, 10 French Cups

Trivia
• OM are one of only two Ligue 1 teams to have won a major European title, claiming the inaugural UEFA Champions League in 1992/93. They have also won eight league titles, second only to AS Saint-Etienne's tally of ten, as well as a record ten French Cups.

• Marseille's motto Droit Au But (Straight to Goal) dates from when the multi-disciplinary sport club's main focus was rugby union. The Olympique in their name is a nod to the variety of sports the club were engaged in and also the city's Greek roots. 'Massalia', France's oldest city, was founded as a Greek trading post in 600BC.

• As the name might suggest, Marseille's Stade Vélodrome – built in 1937 – hosted a major cycle track until the mid-1980s, with stages of the Tour de France concluding there.