Rennes v Dynamo Kyiv background

Rennes have a one-point advantage over Dynamo Kyiv in UEFA Europa League Group K as the teams go head to head in Brittany on matchday three.

• Rennes scored a late penalty to win their opening game 2-1 at home to Jablonec but were defeated 2-0 at Astana on matchday two, whereas Dynamo surrendered leads in drawing both of their first two matches 2-2 – at home to Astana and away to Jablonec.

Previous meetings
• This is the first UEFA encounter between the clubs.

• Rennes have played three matches against Ukrainian opposition, winning one and losing two – all with 1-0 scorelines.

• While Dynamo have considerably more experience against Ligue 1 opposition, France has not been a happy hunting ground, their nine trips having brought seven defeats and just one win – 3-1 at Lens 20 years ago in the UEFA Champions League group stage, Andriy Shevchenko among the scorers. They have failed to score on six of those nine visits.

Form guide
Rennes
• Rennes earned their first ever qualifying exemption for a major UEFA club competition by finishing fifth in the 2017/18 Ligue 1.

• They have competed in the UEFA Europa League group stage once before, in 2011/12, after coming through two qualifying rounds. Defeated in all three away fixtures, they drew all three at home – 1-1 against Atlético Madrid and Celtic, 0-0 against Udinese. That was the club's most recent European campaign.

• Rennes also participated twice in the UEFA Cup group stage, in 2005/06 and 2007/08, but were winless in those too (D2 L6). Nevertheless, the matchday one victory over Jablonec means they are unbeaten in their last ten home fixtures in the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League, qualifying ties included (W5 D5).

Dynamo
• Ukrainian league runners-up to Shakhtar Donetsk last term, Dynamo entered the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round, where they defeated Slavia Praha 3-1 before going out in the play-offs to Ajax (1-3 away, 0-0 home).

• This is Dynamo's seventh involvement in the UEFA Europa League and sixth group stage campaign, four of the previous five having been successful, the exception coming in 2011/12. Their best performance was in 2014/15, when they reached the quarter-finals, having also been semi-finalists in the last ever UEFA Cup of 2008/09.

• Dynamo are without a victory in six European matches on the road (D4 L2) but have a positive overall away record in the UEFA Europa League group stage of W7 D4 L5, the most recent win having come last season at Young Boys (1-0) on matchday four.

Links and trivia 
• Hatem Ben Arfa (Rennes) and Tamás Kádár (Dynamo) had a short time together at Newcastle United in 2011/12.

• Dynamo's last two results mean that they have now drawn 18 matches in the UEFA Europa League, group stage to final, which equals Lazio's competition record.

The coaches
• Sabri Lamouchi is a former French international midfielder who represented his country at EURO '96 after wining the domestic double that season with Auxerre. He also scooped the French title with Monaco in 1999/2000 before moving to Italy. His first managerial posting was as head coach to the Ivory Coast national side, whom he led at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. After two and a half years in charge of Qatari side El Jaish, he became Rennes boss in November 2017, replacing Christian Gourcuff.

• Hired as Dynamo coach in July 2017, Aleksandr Khatskevich won seven successive league titles with the club as a player between 1997 and 2004, having also claimed five straight championships with Dinamo Minsk in his native Belarus. He later worked with Dynamo's youth and reserve teams before taking charge of the Belarus national side from 2014 to 2016. He was capped 38 times by his country, scoring four international goals, three of them in qualification for the 2002 FIFA World Cup.