Knockout stages in Metalist's sights

FC Metalist Kharkiv will look to complete a return to the last 32 as they host eliminated Debreceni VSC in Group I, with their guests eager to avoid a repeat of the one-sided scoreline the last time these clubs met.

• Metalist will go through with a better result than UC Sampdoria achieve against PSV Eindhoven. Debrecen have no hope of progressing.

Previous meetings
• Two goals from Edmar and strikes for Cleiton Xavier, Fininho and Serhiy Valyayev gave Metalist a 5-0 win when the sides first met in Hungary on Matchday 1. It was the Ukrainian club's biggest ever European away win and Debrecen's worst continental home defeat. It was also Metalist's first game against Hungarian opposition.

• Prior to Matchday 1, Debrecen's sole experience of Ukrainian opposition came from a 2005/06 UEFA Cup first round tie against FC Shakhtar Donetsk, when they lost 4-1 away and 2-0 at home.

Match background
• Metalist were the unheralded stars of the 2008/09 UEFA Cup, eliminating Beşiktaş JK in the first round, then beating Galatasaray AŞ, Olympiacos FC and SL Benfica in the group stage. They ousted Sampdoria in the round of 32, before bowing out to FC Dynamo Kyiv on away goals in the last 16.

• A 2-1 win against Sampdoria on Matchday 3 ended Metalist's three-game wait for a home win in Europe.

• Debrecen's 2-1 triumph at PFC Litex Lovech in the UEFA Europa League play-offs is their only victory in their last eight European away games. They have lost all ten of their UEFA club competition group stage games; six in last season's UEFA Champions League and now four in this season's UEFA Europa League.

Team facts
• Debrecen and FC Karpaty Lviv have the joint-worst defensive record in the group stage with 11 goals conceded in four games.

• FC Salzburg and Debrecen are the lowest scorers in the group stage with just one goal from their four fixtures.

• Debrecen's Péter Máté celebrates his 26th birthday on the day after the match, 2 December.

• The next goal Debrecen let in will be the 100th they have conceded in Europe; this is their 61st UEFA club competition game.

• Myron Markevich has been in charge at Metalist since summer 2005, briefly combining his job with that of Ukraine coach before stepping down to focus on his club duties in summer 2010. Having retired as a player at 28, he reached new highs after moving to Kharkiv, leading the club to four successive third-placed league finishes from 2006/07 – the best results in their history – as well as European success.

• Coach András Herczeg joined Debrecen as a youngster in 1970, and though he spent the latter part of his playing career elsewhere, he returned on retiring in 1988 to coach the club's youth and reserve teams. After winning two titles as assistant to Attila Supka in 2005 and 2006, Herczeg was given sole command in 2007, and has since won two titles and two Hungarian Cups of his own.