Karpaty defending home honour against Dortmund

FC Karpaty Lviv meet BV Borussia Dortmund in Group J four decades to the day since the Ukrainian side's last – and indeed only – continental defeat in their home town.

Previous meetings
• The teams are meeting for the first time in UEFA club competition, and this is also Karpaty's first game against a German club.

• Dortmund met both the big Ukrainian sides – FC Shakhtar Donetsk and FC Dynamo Kyiv – in the 2001/02 UEFA Champions League, with their record in the four games reading W3 D1 L0 (W1 D1 L0 away).

Match background 
• Karpaty have not lost in eight European games, with Shelbourne FC the last side to beat them, 3-1 in a 1993/94 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup preliminary round fixture.

• Their unbeaten run at home stretches back even further. They have not lost in five games in Lviv since going down 1-0 to FC Steaua Bucureşti in the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup first round on 16 September 1970 – their only home defeat in Europe.

• Dortmund have not conceded in their last three continental fixtures, home and away, all of which ended in victories.

• Dortmund have not lost in their last four European away games, a run of clean sheets stretching back to a 4-0 UEFA Cup second round loss at FC Sochaux-Montbéliard on 27 November 2003.

• The German side are competing in their first UEFA Europa League/UEFA Cup group stage. They have not played in the pool phase of a UEFA tournament since reaching the second group stage of the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League.

Team facts
• Born in Kursk, Russia, but Belarusian by nationality, Karpaty coach Oleg Kononov started his playing career with FC Iskra Smolensk, but spent most of his career in Belarus, winning the nation's Player of the Year award in 1998, during his time at FC Torpedo Minsk. He took over at Karpaty in 2008 after a spell as assistant coach at FC Sheriff in Moldova.

• Dortmund coach Jürgen Klopp started his career as a striker, converting to a defender midway through an 11-year spell at 1. FSV Mainz 05. Moving from the pitch to the bench in 2001, he led Mainz to the top division in Germany – and into European competition – for the first time, but stepped down at the end of the 2007/08 campaign to replace Thomas Doll as Dortmund coach.