Dinamo Minsk v Plzeň background

FC Dinamo Minsk's chances of reaching the UEFA Europa League round of 32 have already dwindled to nothing, while hope is just about keeping FC Viktoria Plzeň afloat in Group E.

• Section leaders SK Rapid Wien are through; Dinamo are out.

• Plzeň must win and hope Rapid beat Villarreal CF if they are to have any chance of progressing on matchday six.

Previous meetings
• Plzeň won 2-0 on matchday one in what was Dinamo's first encounter with Czech opponents.

• Plzeň's only previous encounters with Belarusian sides were a 1-1 home draw and a 1-0 away win against FC BATE Borisov in the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Dinamo goalkeeper Aleksandr Gutor played for BATE in both of those games; current Plzeň players František Rajtoral, David Limberský, Milan Petržela, Michal Ďuriš, Daniel Kolář, Václav Pilař and Radim Řezník all featured for the Czech side in those fixtures.

Form guide
• Dinamo are on a five-game losing streak in Europe and have scored only once since the start of the group stage – in their 2-1 loss at home to Villarreal on matchday four. Their -8 goal difference is the worst in the group stage.

• Plzeň have lost all three of their Group E games since beating Dinamo.

• Dinamo have reached this stage for the second season in succession; they failed to make it through to the round of 32 last season too.

• Plzeň successfully navigated their way through their only previous UEFA Europa League group stage, in 2012/13.

Trivia and links
• The journey from Minsk to Plzen is a little shy of 1,100km.

• Plzeň are one of ten domestic champions in this season's group stage, along with KF Skenderbëu (Albania), Qarabağ FK (Azerbaijan), APOEL FC (Cyprus), FC Midtjylland (Denmark), KKS Lech Poznań (Poland), FK Partizan (Serbia), Celtic FC (Scotland), Molde FK (Norway) and FC Basel 1893 (Switzerland).

The coaches
• Former FK Partizan defender Vuk Rašović has been in charge of Dinamo since the summer, having stepped up to a front-line role after a spell as the club's director of football. He had previously been on the coaching staff at Partizan and their feeder club FK Teleoptik.

• Karel Krejčí took control at Plzeň this summer after his old boss Pavel Vrba became full-time coach of the Czech Republic. Krejči was Vrba's assistant as Plzeň won two league titles and he continues to work as Vrba's No2 with the national team.