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Dinamo at risk again from progressive Sevilla

Sevilla are level with Juventus at the top of Group H and at home to Dinamo Zagreb, who are without a point so far, have the chance to move closer towards qualification.

Jorge Sampaoli is closing in on qualification to the knockout rounds in his first season with Sevilla
Jorge Sampaoli is closing in on qualification to the knockout rounds in his first season with Sevilla ©AFP/Getty Images

Sevilla FC earned their first UEFA Champions League away success in seven years on matchday three and back on home territory they can take another important step towards qualification against GNK Dinamo Zagreb.

• Samir Nasri's fine finish made the difference in Croatia – the first European contest between the teams – and made it a losing start for Ivaylo Petev in his first UEFA Champions League group stage test with his new charges, who are still without a point or a goal.

• Sevilla will go through with a win, provided Juventus also beat Olympique Lyonnais. Dinamo are out if they lose; if they draw, they can only stay in contention if Juve lose.

Match background

Sevilla
• Los Blanquirojos began with a 0-0 draw at Juventus and then beat Lyon 1-0 thanks to Wissam Ben Yedder's second-half goal. On seven points, they are level with Juventus at the head of Group H.

• Last season Unai Emery's side put the disappointment at only finishing third in Group D to one side by lifting the UEFA Europa League for the third successive year and fifth time in 11 seasons.

• In the 2015/16 UEFA Champions League they won two of their home games, against VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach and Juventus, but lost all three away from home.  

• In the UEFA Europa League they won three of their four home matches en route to the final in Basel, where they overcame Liverpool FC 3-1. Their only stumble at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán came in the quarter-finals against Athletic Club, going down 2-1 after winning away by the same score. Sevilla came through the shoot-out 5-4.

• On their way to lifting the trophy the previous season, Sevilla overcame Croatian opponents in HNK Rijeka, winning 1-0 at home in the group stage. They had drawn 2-2 away thanks to substitute Stéphane Mbia's added-time equaliser after Timothée Kolodziejczak's red card had reduced the visitors to ten men.

Dinamo
• The Croatian champions started with a 3-0 defeat in Lyon and then went down 4-0 at home to Juventus, conceding two goals in each half.

• They followed that reverse by installing Petev, the former Bulgaria coach, at the helm as the successor to Zlatko Kranjčar.

• Dinamo lost all three away games in last season's group stage, conceding ten goals and scoring only one. They also finished bottom of Group F with three points that all arrived on matchday one in a 2-1 win over Arsenal FC. It ended a 16-year wait for a victory in the competition proper.

• The Croatian double winners have failed to qualify from the group stage in all five previous attempts. In fact, in all 12 previous UEFA club competition group stages – including seven in the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League – they have yet to make it through to the next phase.

• Away form underpinned Dinamo's progress through this season's qualifying rounds. They prevailed 2-1 at FK Vardar in the second qualifying round (5-3 on aggregate) and 1-0 at FC Dinamo Tbilisi in the next stage (3-0 on aggregate).

• After a 1-1 draw at home to FC Salzburg in the play-offs they trailed in Austria until the 87th minute when Junior Fernandes forced extra time. El Arabi Hilal Soudani's strike then completed the victory.

• Dinamo's sole victory in nine matches against Liga sides, seven of which they have lost, came in a 2-0 home success against Villarreal CF in the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League group stage.

Coach and player links
• Ángelo Henríquez was given his Chile debut by Jorge Sampaoli and was part of the squad that won the 2015 Copa América, Chile's first major international trophy, under the current Sevilla coach. Henríquez came on in the final against Argentina.

• Henríquez spent 2013/14 on loan at Real Zaragoza, scoring six goals in 25 appearances.

• Junior Fernandes played under Sampaoli for Chile from 2012 to 2015.

• Daniel Olmo was born and grew up in Spain. He played in RCD Espanyol and FC Barcelona's youth systems before joining Dinamo in 2014.

• Gabriel Mercado and Leonardo Sigali both played for Argentina in the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup final, beating Czech Republic 2-1 in Toronto.

• Paulo Machado and Ben Yedder played together at Toulouse FC in 2012/13.

• Alexandru Mățel and Sergio Rico were unused substitutes for their respective international sides in Romania's goalless draw with Spain in an international friendly in March 2016 in Cluj-Napoca.

Match facts

Sevilla
• Nicolás Pareja will incur a suspension with his next booking.

• A 1-1 draw at Sporting Gijón on Saturday ended a run of five straight wins in all competitions for the Andalusian side, their best run of form since they recorded seven successive victories between 7 March and 7 April 2015.

• Sevilla boast a 100% home Liga record this season, having won their first five games at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán for the first time since 2006/07.

Dinamo
• Jonas is a booking away from a ban.

• Dinamo triumphed 2-1 at third-tier NK Bjelovar in the Croatian Cup third round on 25 October, and followed that up with a 1-0 league success against NK Inter Zaprešić on Saturday.

• The Blues have kept five successive clean sheets in the league.

• Captain Domagoj Antolić sustained a left knee injury against on matchday three and was subsequently ruled out for at least six weeks.

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