Krasnodar v Celta background
Friday, March 10, 2017
Article summary
Krasnodar conceded a late goal in the first leg but will know that a 2-1 defeat at Celta was a decent result as they prepare to welcome the Spanish side for the decider.
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Claudio Beauvue's late header gave Celta a 2-1 lead to protect as they make the long journey east to meet Krasnodar in their UEFA Europa League round of 16 decider.
• Misses next match if booked:
Krasnodar: Yuri Gazinski, Andreas Granqvist
Celta: Iago Aspas, Théo Bongonda, John Guidetti
Previous meetings
• The sides met for the first time in UEFA competition in the opening leg.
• Krasnodar's only previous encounter with Spanish opponents came against Real Sociedad in the 2014/15 play-off round, the Russian side winning 3-1 on aggregate (0-1 away, 3-0 home).
• Celta are now unbeaten in five previous meetings with Russian sides: three 2-1 home wins and 1-1 and 2-2 draws in Russia.
Form guide
• Krasnodar have scored one goal in each of their last five European games.
• Celta have scored twice in their last three European away fixtures: a 3-2 defeat followed by two 2-0 wins.
• Krasnodar have reached the round of 16 for the first time after bowing out to Sparta Praha in last season's round of 32. This is only their third European campaign and now their longest; the round of 16 second leg will be their 14th European game of the campaign – they played 12 in each of the previous two.
• This is Celta's first continental venture since they made it through the group stage and into the last 16 of the 2006/07 UEFA Cup. Their biggest European achievement was reaching the quarter-finals of the UEFA Cup in three successive seasons (1998/99, 1999/2000, 2000/01).
Links and trivia
• The journey from Vigo to Krasnodar is around 3,800km.
• The game is taking place the day after Krasnodar's Mauricio Pereyra's 27th birthday.
• Celta striker John Guidetti was born in Stockholm, the host city for this season's UEFA Europa League final. He and Krasnodar pair Andreas Granqvist and Viktor Claesson are among 12 Swedish players still involved in the round of 16.
• In what was his first European club game, Celta's Andreu Fontàs met Krasnodar's Vitali Kaleshin when Barcelona beat Rubin Kazan 2-0 in a December 2010 UEFA Champions League game.
• Krasnodar's Naldo faced Celta as a Getafe player in a 2-1 Liga defeat in 2014/15.
• Krasnodar's Dmitri Torbinski featured for Spartak Moskva in the Russian club's 3-2 aggregate defeat by Celta in the 2006/07 UEFA Cup round of 32.
The coaches
• Eduardo Berizzo played in the UEFA Champions League for Marseille and Celta, the former Argentina centre-back subsequently returning to Europe in 2014 to take charge of the Galician club. He guided them back into Europe with a sixth-place finish in 2015/16.
• Igor Shalimov stepped in to take temporary command of Krasnodar on 13 September 2016 following Oleg Kononov's resignation. The former USSR, CIS and Russia midfielder, who helped Internazionale Milano lift the UEFA Cup in 1994, had been on Kononov's staff, working with the club's strikers.
Penalty shoot-outs
• Both sides have yet to feature in a UEFA penalty shoot-out.