Dynamo hope for better against Bordeaux

FC Dynamo Kyiv will look to end a barren patch in Europe as they kick off their UEFA Europa League round of 32 tie against FC Girondins de Bordeaux.

Previous meetings
• The sides are meeting for the first time in UEFA club competition.

• Dynamo's 14 UEFA games against French sides have ended W3 D3 L8 (W2 D2 L3 at home – W1 D1 L5 in France). They have already faced one French side this season, losing 4-1 away and 2-0 at home against Paris Saint-Germain FC in the UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Bordeaux's previous experience of Ukrainian opposition amounts to two ties against FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. They won the first 5-3 on penalties, after 1-1 draws in both legs of a 1984/85 European Champion Clubs' Cup quarter-final, then beat the same opponents 3-2 on aggregate in the first round of the 1988/89 UEFA Cup.

Match background
• Dynamo have gone four games without a European win since beating GNK Dinamo Zagreb 2-0 in this season's UEFA Champions League group stage. Those three points ultimately helped them to third place in Group B and passage to the round of 32.

• Bordeaux have won once in four European away games this season, also picking up two draws and a defeat. They are unbeaten in 12 European home contests (W10 D2), having won their last nine at the Stade Chaban-Delmas.

• Dynamo last competed in the round of 32 in 2010/11, when they went on to reach the quarter-finals, losing out to SC Braga on away goals after 1-1 and 0-0 draws. In their best UEFA Cup season, they reached the semi-finals in 2008/09, where they lost out to domestic rivals FC Shakhtar Donetsk.

• Bordeaux have reached the round of 32 for the fourth time since the advent of the UEFA Cup group stage in 2004/05, finishing top of Group D in the autumn. However, they have yet to make it to the round of 16, losing out to CA Osasuna (2006/07), RSC Anderlecht (2007/08) and Galatasaray AŞ (2008/09).

• Bordeaux's biggest success in any major UEFA club competition came when they reached the 1995/96 UEFA Cup final, where they lost 5-1 on aggregate to FC Bayern München.

Team facts 
• Bordeaux goalkeeper Cédric Carrasso and Dynamo defender Taye Taiwo were team-mates at Olympique de Marseille from 2005–08.

• Dynamo forward Ideye Brown and Bordeaux attacker Nicolas Maurice-Belay played together at FC Sochaux-Montbéliard between 2010 and 2011. Their coach at the Stade Auguste Bonal was current Bordeaux boss Francis Gillot.

• Dynamo midfielder Lukman Haruna also has Ligue 1 experience, having represented AS Monaco FC (2008–11).

• Of the sides that qualified from the UEFA Europa League group stage, Bordeaux have been the brightest starters this season, with six of their ten goals coming in the first 30 minutes of their matches.

• Capped 112 times by the Soviet Union, Dynamo's coach is Oleh Blokhin, although health problems meant that Oleksiy Mykhaylychenko deputised for the 60-year-old at times during the autumn. The 1975 European Footballer of the Year, Blokhin won eight USSR titles and two European Cup Winners' Cups with Dynamo as a forward. He has twice coached Ukraine, most recently when they co-hosted UEFA EURO 2012.

• Bordeaux coach Francis Gillot was a defender who spent the bulk of his playing career at RC Lens. He coached at the Sochaux academy before returning to Lens to take joint-charge and then sole command of the first team in January 2005. Subsequent spells with Sochaux and (since 2011) Bordeaux have cemented his reputation as a straight-talking coach with a penchant for attacking football.

Round of 16: Bayer 04 Leverkusen/SL Benfica v Dynamo/Bordeaux
• The first legs will be played on 7 March, with the returns the following Thursday.

• Dynamo have met both of their potential opponents.

• They played Benfica in the 1991/92 European Champion Clubs' Cup group stage, winning 1-0 in Ukraine but going down 5-0 in Lisbon.

• Dynamo have met Leverkusen in four previous UEFA Champions League group stage games. They have beaten Bayer 4-2 at home twice, but fared less well in Germany, drawing 1-1 in 1999/2000 and losing 3-0 in 2004/05.

• Bordeaux have also encountered Benfica before, having eliminated the Eagles 2-1 on aggregate in the second round of the 1986/87 European Cup Winners' Cup.