Partizan v Dynamo Kyiv background

A draw may be the outcome if form is anything to go by as Partizan welcome Dynamo Kyiv for a second time in UEFA Europa League Group B.

Previous meetings
• The sides' only past encounter was in the first round of the 1976/77 European Cup, when Valeriy Lobanovskiy's Dynamo beat Tomislav Kaloperović's Partizan 3-0 at home and 2-0 in Belgrade.

• The teams when they last met in Belgrade, on 29 September 1976 – almost 31 years to the day before the upcoming fixture – were:
Partizan: Ivančević, Antić, Kozić, Hatunić, Tomić (Stojković 8), Kunovac, Zavišić, Trifunović, Paunović (Grubješić 46), Perović, Prekazi.
Dynamo: Rudakov, Konkov, Matviyenko (Zuyev 14), Kuznetsov, Reshko, Troshkin, Muntyan, Slobodyan, Buryak, Berezhnoy, Blokhin.

• Partizan's overall record in eight meetings with Ukrainian clubs is W2 D1 L5.

• Dynamo also eliminated Partizan's neighbours Crvena zvezda on away goals after 0-0 and 1-1 draws in a 2000/01 UEFA Champions League qualifier, and are thus unbeaten in four meetings with Serbian opponents: W2 D2.

Form guide
• Partizan's draw at Young Boys (1-1) on matchday one was their third in their last four European games (W1 D3).

• Dynamo are without a win in six European away matches, but four of those ended in draws (D4 L2). They have scored just once in the course of that run.

• Serbian league and cup winners in 2016/17, Partizan have reached the UEFA Europa League group stage for the fifth time in the competition's current incarnation, but are yet to progress to the round of 32.

• Ukrainian league runners-up in 2016/17, Dynamo reached the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals in 2010/11 and 2014/15, when they last competed in this group stage.

Links and trivia
• The journey from Kyiv to Belgrade is around 1,000km.

• Dynamo's Serbian defender Aleksandar Pantić started out as a trainee at Partizan but never made a senior appearance for the club, representing their city rivals Rad (2011–12) and Crvena zvezda (2012–13) before moving abroad. Pantić played with Partizan's Lazar Ćirković at Rad.

The coaches
• Miroslav Djukić was assigned a second stint as Partizan coach in June 2017, having occupied the helm in 2007. The 48-times capped Yugoslavia sweeper played in Spain with Deportivo and Valencia, and has spent much of this decade coaching there too.

• Hired as coach in July 2017, Aleksandr Khatskevich won seven league titles as a Dynamo player from 1996–2004, and later worked with their youth and reserve teams. The 38-times capped international coached his native Belarus from 2014–16.