Beşiktaş and Dynamo renew acquaintances

Beşiktaş JK and FC Dynamo Kyiv are set to meet again in Europe, with home coach Bernd Schuster having already encountered the Ukrainian side during his time at the helm of their arch-rivals FC Shakhtar Donetsk.

Previous meetings
• The sides have met in two previous two-legged ties. The first, in the 1986/87 European Champion Clubs' Cup quarter-finals, was won comfortably by Dynamo, who prevailed 5-0 in Turkey and 2-0 at home.

• Beşiktaş, under current Shakhtar coach Mircea Lucescu, got revenge the last time the teams locked horns, eliminating Olexiy Mykhaylichenko's charges from the 2002/03 UEFA Cup third round courtesy of a 3-1 win in Istanbul – rounded off by a memorable Pascal Nouma lob – and a 0-0 draw in Kyiv.

• The teams for their most recent Istanbul meeting on 28 November 2002 were:
Beşiktaş: Córdoba, Tolga Doğantez, Tayfur Havutçu, Ahmet Yıldırım, Ronaldo Guiaro, Yasin Sülün (İbrahim Üzülmez* 62), Pancu, Tamer Tuna, Nouma, Zago, Tümer Metin.
Dynamo: Reva, Dmytrulin (Leko 76), Melaschenko (Cernat 66), Belkevich, Gusin, Diogo Rincón (Khatskevich 46), Shatskikh, Ghioane*, Bodnar, Nesmachniy*, Gavrančić.

*still with the club

Match background
• Their previous meetings with Dynamo included, Beşiktaş have contested six games against Ukrainian sides and their record reads W2 D1 L3 (W2 D0 L1 at home).

• Dynamo's 14 matches against Turkish opponents have earned them the record W8 D4 L2 (W3 D3 L1 in Turkey, with that sole loss coming against Beşiktaş in 2002).

• Beşiktaş have won five of their six home games in Europe this season without conceding a goal, but a 3-1 defeat by FC Porto broke up that winning streak.

• Dynamo have triumphed in three of their five European away fixtures this season, losing the other two.

Team facts
• The second leg of this tie will be Beşiktaş's 150th game in UEFA club competition and Dynamo's 50th in the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League.

• Porto's Falcao is the top scorer in this season's UEFA Europa League with seven goals; Dynamo's Artem Milevskiy is one of five players trailing him by two, along with Tomáš Necid (PFC CSKA Moskva), Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal CF), Wilfried Bony (AC Sparta Praha) and Edinson Cavani (SSC Napoli).

• Milevskiy was also fouled more than any other player in the group stage, being impeded 30 times in total – eight more than the next player on the list, SK Rapid Wien's Tanju Kayhan. As a team, Dynamo were also the most infringed against, accuring 118 fouls.

• Dynamo's Roman Eremenko was responsible for five assists in the UEFA Europa League group stage, leaving him as the joint-top supplier along with VfB Stuttgart's Arthur Boka.

• Dynamo's Yevhen Khacheridi picked up four yellow cards in the group stage, the most alongside US Città di Palermo's Javier Pastore.

• Finnish international Eremenko was a team-mate of Beşiktaş's Tomáš Sivok during the Czech's time with Udinese Calcio from 2007 to 2008.

• Beşiktaş's Guti faced Dynamo on seven occasions with Real Madrid CF, winning three games, drawing three and losing once.

• Dynamo's Andriy Shevchenko played Beşiktaş twice as an AC Milan player in the 2000/01 UEFA Champions League first group stage; he scored two goals in a 4-1 win at San Siro and struck again as his side prevailed 2-0 in Istanbul.

• Beşiktaş boss Schuster coached in Ukraine with Shakhtar in the 2003/04 season; his team drew 1-1 with Dynamo in Kyiv but lost 4-2 at home. He was dismissed before the end of the campaign but the team finished second and lifted the Ukrainian Cup without him.

• The overall winners will take on the victors in the tie between Aris Thessaloniki FC and Manchester City FC in the round of 16 on 10 and 17 March, playing the first leg at home.