Sheriff seeking Moldovan first against Dynamo

FC Sheriff will be striving to defend their nation's honour as FC Dynamo Kyiv visit Tiraspol in UEFA Europa League Group E, with no Moldovan club having overcome a Ukrainian counterpart in UEFA competition since independence.

Previous meetings
• The sides are meeting for the first time in UEFA club competition and this is also Dynamo's first encounter with a club from Moldova.

• Sheriff met Dynamo's Ukrainian arch-rivals FC Shakhtar Donetsk in the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League second qualifying round. The teams drew 0-0 in Tiraspol, but the Moldovan champions lost the return leg 2-0 in Donetsk.

• In total, Ukrainian and Moldovan clubs have met in ten UEFA club competition encounters, with the Moldovan side yet to win a game. The Moldovan teams' record in those contests reads W0 D4 L6 (W0 D4 L1 at home).

Match background
• Defeat at AZ Alkmaar on Matchday 1 meant Sheriff have now not won in six games since starting their 2010/11 European campaign with a 3-1 triumph at home against KS Dinamo Tirana in the UEFA Champions League second qualifying round. That run has comprised four losses and two draws.

• Sheriff made their group stage debut in continental competition last season but finished third in their UEFA Europa League section, missing out on the knockout phase.

• A 3-1 success at KAA Gent in this season's UEFA Champions League third qualifying round was Dynamo's only victory on their travels in their last ten European away games.

• Making their first appearance in the UEFA Europa League or UEFA Cup group stage, this is Dynamo's first away assignment in the competition since its change of identity. Their last UEFA Cup away game ended in a 2-1 loss at Shakhtar in the 2008/09 semi-finals.

Team facts
• Sheriff coach Andrei Sosnitski took over at the helm following the departure of his former boss and fellow Belarusian Leonid Kuchuk midway through the 2009/10 season, but it was soon business as usual with the club winning another domestic double.

• Initially a trainee at FC Dinamo Minsk, he later played for FC Alania Vladikavkaz, FC Uralmash Ekaterinburg and FC Chernomorets Novorossiysk before finishing his playing career – and starting out as an assistant coach at FC Dinamo Brest and FC Slavia Mozyr.

• Russian coach Valeri Gazzaev is in his second European season at Dynamo having joined the club in May 2009. Capped eight times by the Soviet Union, he spent his best years as a striker with FC Lokomotiv Moskva and FC Dinamo Moskva. As a coach, he won the 1995 Russian title with Alania and then scooped three championships, three Russian Cups and the 2004/05 UEFA Cup with PFC CSKA Moskva.

• Sosnitski left Alania in 1993, the year before Gazzaev took over in the dugout.