VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach will attempt to launch a 1970s revival when they take on FC Dynamo Kyiv in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League play-off.

• Mönchengladbach have not competed in Europe's elite club competition since reaching the semi-finals in 1978 but, 34 years on, their fourth-place finish in last season's Bundesliga has taken them to within one step of making a group stage debut.

• Runners-up in Ukraine last season, Dynamo will have other ideas after beating Feyenoord 3-1 on aggregate in the third qualifying round.

Past meetings
• The teams' sole previous encounter came in the semi-finals of the 1976/77 European Champion Clubs' Cup when Mönchengladbach overcame a 1-0 loss in Kyiv – Volodymyr Onyschenko the scorer – thanks to a 2-0 victory courtesy of Rainer Bonhof's first-half penalty and a Hans-Jürgen Wittkamp goal with eight minutes remaining. Mönchengladbach's reward was a final date with Liverpool FC in Rome, where they ran out 3-1 losers.

• These ties represent Mönchengladbach's only previous experience of Ukrainian opponents.

• Of those goalscorers, Onyschenko is still with Dynamo, where he is deputy director of the club's football department and head of the club's youth academy. Bonhof, meanwhile, is now Mönchengladbach's vice-president.

Match background
• Yuri Semin's Dynamo are bidding to reach the group stage of the UEFA Champions League for the 15th time overall and the first time since 2009/10. They suffered defeats by AFC Ajax in the 2010/11 play-offs and by FC Rubin Kazan in last term's third qualifying round.

• Dynamo's record against German clubs is P26 W11 D5 L10 (W8 D3 L2 at home, W3 D2 L8 in Germany). Among those victories are the 1-0 away win and the 2-0 home success against FC Bayern München that secured the 1975 UEFA Super Cup.

• For Mönchengladbach, this is the first taste of European football since their 1996/97 UEFA Cup campaign when they eliminated Arsenal FC before losing to AS Monaco FC in the second round.

Team ties
• As FC Lokomotiv Moskva coach, Semin won 1-0 at Bayern in the 1995/96 UEFA Cup first round, only to see his team crushed 5-0 in the return. Semin had further disappointment against Bundesliga opponents as Lokomotiv lost home and away to first VfB Stuttgart in the 1997/98 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup semi-finals, and then Borussia Dortmund in the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Lucien Favre's previous visit to Ukraine as a coach resulted in a goalless draw for Hertha BSC Berlin at FC Metalist Kharkiv in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup group stage. Raffael, who played under Favre at Hertha between 2008 and 2010, was a late substitute.

• Dynamo forward Admir Mehmedi scored past Mönchengladbach goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen in Switzerland's 5-3 friendly win against Germany in May this year. Mehmedi is an international colleague of Mönchengladbach's Granit Xhaka.

• Andriy Yarmolenko scored in Ukraine's 3-3 friendly draw with Germany in Kyiv last November.

• Mönchengladbach defender Martin Stranzl was in the FC Spartak Moskva side beaten 8-2 on aggregate by Dynamo in the third qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League in 2008/09.

• While playing for Club Atlético de Madrid, Mönchengladbach's Álvaro Domínguez got the better of a Sporting Clube de Portugal side featuring Dynamo's Miguel Veloso in the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League round of 16, winning on away goals.

• With the Spain Under-21 side, meanwhile, Domínguez enjoyed victories over a Ukraine team featuring Dynamo's Denys Garmash and Yarmolenko in the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship group stage – Garmash was sent off – and then Mehmedi's Switzerland in the final.

• Mönchengladbach's Luuk de Jong scored past Dynamo's Denys Boyko when the Netherlands took on Ukraine in a play-off for those same U21 finals – but it was Ukraine who progressed on away goals after a 3-3 aggregate draw.

• Striker and 1986 European Footballer of the Year Ihor Belanov left Dynamo for Mönchengladbach in 1989 and hit four goals in 24 appearances in 18 months with the club.