Spartak and Basel lock horns again

FC Spartak Moskva welcome FC Basel 1893 to Russia looking to maintain the advantage they gained in their round of 32 first leg where they came from 2-0 down to win 3-2.

• Thorsten Fink's side looked to be cruising after Alexander Frei and Marco Streller struck within the space of five first-half minutes, but Dmitri Kombarov brought the visitors back into the tie just after the hour.  Artem Dzyuba then struck an equaliser, Xherdan Shaqiri was sent off and 18-year-old substitute Jano Ananidze arrowed home a last-ditch winner for Valeri Karpin's side.

Previous meetings
• This second leg will be the sixth meeting between these two sides, who initially met in a 1970/71 European Champion Clubs' Cup first round tie, where Helmut Benthaus's Basel beat Nikolai Starostin's Spartak on away goals. Christian Gross's Basel also prevailed 2-0 in both of their 2002/03 UEFA Champions League group stage games against Oleg Romantsev's Spartak.

• Defeat in the first leg thus ended Basel's three-game winning streak against the Russian side.

• The teams for their last meeting in Moscow, on 5 November 2002, were:
Spartak: Levitsky, Kovtun, Ibra Kébé (Mitreski 77), Beschastnykh, Kalininchenko (Torbinski 71), Danishevski, Bezrodny (Kudryashov 46), Pavlenko, Moisés, Abramidze, Khlestov.
Basel: Zuberbühler, Zwyssig, Esposito (Atouba 16), Hakan Yakin, Tum, Murat Yakin, Duruz, Cantaluppi, Haas, Ergić, Rossi (Giménez 67).

• The lineups for the sides' first meeting in Moscow – and Spartak's only home win – on 16 September 1970 were:
Spartak: Kavazashvili, Logofet, Ivanov, Abramov, Lovchev, Kiselev, Kalinov, Papaev, Khusainov, Osyanin, Proskurin.
Basel: Laufenburger, Odermatt, Ramseier, Mundschin, Balmer, Wenger, Fischli, Rahmen, Siegenthaler, Sundermann, Reisch.

Match background
• Spartak have won only one of their last seven games at home in Europe, beating MŠK Žilina 3-0 in this season's UEFA Champions League group stage. Five of those fixtures ended in defeat.

• Basel are the only Swiss side to have beaten Spartak. The Russian club's record in 11 games against teams from Switzerland reads W6 D2 L3 (W3 D2 L1 at home).

• Spartak have lost only one of their last seven continental away fixtures, going down 4-1 at Chelsea FC in this season's UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Basel's overall record against Russian opposition reads W4 D1 L3 (W1 D1 L2 away, with that sole victory coming against Spartak).

• Basel have won three of their five European away games this season, but lost at both CFR 1907 Cluj and FC Bayern München in the UEFA Champions League group stage.

Team facts
• Both Basel and BSC Young Boys, the only other Swiss side left in UEFA club competition this season, were drawn against Russian teams in the round of 32; the Berne club are 2-1 up as they head into the second leg of their tie against Russian champions FC Zenit St Petersburg.

• Basel coach Fink played in four games against Spartak as a Bayern midfielder – all of them in the calendar year 2001 – and was on the winning side on each occasion.

• Spartak coach Karpin played for Russia as they defeated Switzerland 1-0 in a 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifier in Zurich.

• The overall winners will take on the victors in the tie between RSC Anderlecht and AFC Ajax in the round of 16 on 10 and 17 March, playing the first leg away from home.