Dnipro hoping to make Fiorentina pay

FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk will look to settle an old score in UEFA Europa League Group E when they are reunited with ACF Fiorentina, with both sides having collected maximum points on matchday one.

Previous meetings
• The clubs met in the 2001/02 UEFA Cup first round, when Roberto Mancini's Fiorentina beat Mykola Fedorenko's Dnipro 2-1 in Florence after a 0-0 draw in Ukraine.

• The teams for their previous meeting in Dnipropetrovsk on 20 September 2001, were:

Dnipro: Medin, Poklonskiy, Shershun, Zadorozhny, Yezerskiy, Shelayev, Maksymyuk (Kosilov 78), Valyayev (Matiukhin), Poltavets, Grytsay, Galdeanu (Mazar 60).
Fiorentina: Manninger, Adani, Cois (Tarozzi 46), Di Livio, Moretti, González (Taddei 89), Chiesa, Nuno Gomes (Mijatović 81), Amoroso, Vanoli, Baronio.

• Dnipro also faced Italian opponents in last season's group stage, beating SSC Napoli 3-1 at home but losing 4-2 in Naples. Thus their overall record against Serie A sides is W1 D1 L2 (W1 D1 L0 at home – W0 D0 L2 in Italy).

• In total, Fiorentina's six games against Ukrainian clubs stand at W3 D3 L0 (W2 D1 L0 at home – W1 D2 L0 in Ukraine). Their last two visits to Ukraine ended in 0-0 draws.

Match background
• This is Dnipro's fourth group stage campaign; in 2004/05 they reached the round of 32, losing to FK Partizan. They failed to reach the last 32 in the 2005/06 UEFA Cup but breezed through last season only to lose out to FC Basel 1893 in the first knockout round.

• Dnipro are unbeaten in eight European home games (W7 D1) since a 1-0 loss to KKS Lech Poznań in the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League play-offs – still their only continental defeat in nine European outings at the Dnipro Arena, their home since they left the Meteor Stadium in 2008.

• This is Fiorentina's first appearance in the group stage since they reached the semi-finals of the 2007/08 UEFA Cup, though they subsequently appeared in the UEFA Champions League group stage in 2008/09 and 2009/10.

Team facts
• Dnipro's Czech defender Ondřej Mazuch spent two seasons at Fiorentina from 2007-09 but did not make any senior Serie A appearances.

• Fiorentina boast Ukrainian talent in the form of midfielder Olexandr Yakovenko, who started his career at FC Metalist Kharkiv before leaving home, initially for Belgium, in 2005.

• Brazilian forward Ryder Matos scored within a minute of making his debut for the club as a substitute in Fiorentina's 3-0 win against FC Paços de Ferreira on matchday one.

• Dnipro coach Juande Ramos won the UEFA Cup twice as Sevilla coach, in 2006 and 2007, and is one of only three coaches in the group stage to have had their hands on the trophy before. PAOK FC's Huub Stevens, who won it as a player (PSV Eindhoven, 1978) and a coach (FC Schalke 04, 1997), and Tottenham Hotspur FC manager André Villas-Boas (FC Porto, 2011) are the others.

• Dnipro were the top scorers in the 2012/13 UEFA Europa League group stage with 16 goals.

Coach information
• Dnipro coach since October 2010, Juande Ramos led Sevilla FC to back-to-back UEFA Cup successes in 2005/06 and 2006/07, before short and less successful spells in charge of Tottenham Hotspur FC, Real Madrid CF and PFC CSKA Moskva. A midfielder in the lower leagues in his native Spain, he worked his way up as a coach, taking over at Sevilla following a decent spell at Málaga CF in 2003/04, which included a celebrated 5-1 win against FC Barcelona.

• Fiorentina coach since June 2012, Vincenzo Montella is still best remembered as a striker for AS Roma, where he was known as L'Aeroplanino (The Little Aeroplane) because of his modest stature and trademark goal celebration. He won the 2000/01 Serie A title and two Coppa Italias with Roma before moving on to coach their youth team. After coaching Roma and Calcio Catania, he led Fiorentina to a fourth-place finish in his first season in charge.