Dynamo Kyiv and Partizan duel for Group B supremacy

With their places in the knockout phase already assured, the pressure is off both Dynamo Kyiv and Partizan as they meet in the Ukrainian capital to conclude their successful Group B campaigns.

• First place remains up for grabs, however, with Dynamo needing only avoid defeat to take that honour, whereas victory for Partizan would enable them to leapfrog their hosts to the summit.

Previous meetings
• Dynamo got the better of Partizan on matchday two, coming from 2-0 down to win 3-2 in Belgrade. Two goals from Júnior Moraes and a Vitaliy Buyalskiy strike left the Serbian side reeling after Ognjen Ožegović and Leandre Tawamba had given them a 2-0 half-time lead.

• The teams' only encounter prior to that was in the first round of the 1976/77 European Champion Clubs' Cup, when Valeriy Lobanovskiy's Dynamo beat Tomislav Kaloperović's Partizan 3-0 at home and 2-0 in Belgrade.

• Partizan's overall record in nine meetings with Ukrainian clubs is W2 D1 L6.

• Dynamo 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 unbeaten in five meetings with Serbian opponents: W3 D2.

Form guide
• Dynamo are unbeaten in five European home games (W4 D1), having racked up 17 goals in those fixtures. Although defeated 3-2 at Skënderbeu last time out, they have won nine of their last 12 UEFA Europa League group matches (D1 L2).

• Partizan are unbeaten in seven UEFA away games (W2 D5), conceding just four goals during that run. They have lost only once on their travels in five UEFA Europa League group encounters, drawing both fixtures this season.

• Ukrainian Premier 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 the group stage.

• Dynamo have now qualified from the UEFA Europa League group stage for the fourth time (out of five participations), and for the third in a row.

• Serbian league and cup winners in 2016/17, Partizan are through to the round of 32 for the first time in five attempts, securing springtime European football for the first time in 13 years.

Links and trivia
• The journey from Belgrade to Kyiv 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.

• Dynamo striker Dieumerci Mbokani needs one more goal to reach 20 in European club competition.

• Dynamo's Vitaliy Buyalskiy and Partizan's Zoran Tošić are both eligible again after being suspended on matchday five.

• Suspended for next match if booked: Artem Kravets (Dynamo); Ognjen Ožegović, Leandre Tawamba, Everton Bilher, Nemanja Miletić II (No26) (Partizan).

The coaches
• Hired as coach in July 2017, Aleksandr Khatskevich won seven league titles as a Dynamo player between 1996 and 2004, and later worked with the club's youth and reserve teams. The 38-times capped international coached his native Belarus from 2014 to 2016.

• 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 spent much of the last decade coaching there too.