Dnipro at ease as Pandurii come calling

FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk will look to keep up the pressure on UEFA Europa League Group E leaders ACF Fiorentina as CS Pandurii Târgu Jiu come to Ukraine already resigned to elimination.

• Dnipro and Fiorentina booked their places in the round of 32 on matchday four, but getting top spot in the section could be a major fillip, since the seeded sides in the draw get to play the second legs of their round of 32 ties at home.

Previous meetings
• Captain Ruslan Rotan (38) scored the only goal as Dnipro beat Pandurii 1-0 in Cluj-Napoca on matchday one; it was Pandurii's maiden encounter with Ukrainian opposition and Dnipro's first game against a Romanian team.

• Clubs from Romania and neighbouring Ukraine have met in 21 UEFA competition games, with honours all even – W7 D7 L7. The Romanian sides' record is W2 D4 L4 at home – W4 D3 L3 in Ukraine. Those fixtures include the 1987 UEFA Super Cup, when FC Steaua Bucureşti beat FC Dynamo Kyiv 1-0 in Monaco.

• The balance of power between the two nations has shifted in recent years; the Ukrainian side has won the last five encounters between Romanian and Ukrainian outfits.

Match background
• The 2-1 loss to Fiorentina on matchday two remains Dnipro's only defeat in their last nine European home outings (W7 D1 L1).

• This is Dnipro's fourth group stage campaign; in 2004/05 they reached the round of 32, losing to FK Partizan. They failed to reach the last 32 in the 2005/06 UEFA Cup but breezed through last season only to lose out to FC Basel 1893 in the first knockout round.

• Pandurii are one of four teams in the UEFA Europa League group stage who are making their European debuts this season alongside Wigan Athletic FC (ENG), FC Kuban Krasnodar (RUS) and Estoril Praia (POR).

Team facts
• Alexandru Vlad left Pandurii in the summer to move to Dnipro, having played 58 league games in the course of two seasons with the Romanian club.

• Pandurii's Brazilian midfielder Eric Pereira played for FC Karpaty Lviv in 2011/12.

• Dnipro were the top scorers in the 2012/13 UEFA Europa League group stage with 16 goals.

Coach information
• A prolific striker with CS Gaz Metan Mediaş and FC Unirea Alba Iulia, Pandurii coach Cristian Pustai never got to play in Romania's top division but has made up for that as a coach. He won promotion to Liga I with Gaz Metan, then took his old side into Europe for the first time, reaching the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League play-offs. Hired by Pandurii in January 2013, he helped the club secure a best ever finish of second in the league last season.

• Dnipro coach since October 2010, Juande Ramos led Sevilla FC to back-to-back UEFA Cup successes in 2005/06 and 2006/07, before short and less successful spells in charge of Tottenham Hotspur FC, Real Madrid CF and PFC CSKA Moskva. A midfielder in the lower leagues in his native Spain, he worked his way up as a coach, taking over at Sevilla following a decent spell at Málaga CF in 2003/04, which included a celebrated 5-1 win against FC Barcelona.

• Ramos (Sevilla, 2006 & 2007) is one of four coaches in the group stage to have had his hands on the trophy before. PAOK's Huub Stevens, who won it as a player (PSV Eindhoven, 1978) and a coach (FC Schalke 04, 1997), Tottenham Hotspur FC manager André Villas-Boas (FC Porto, 2011) and new AZ Alkmaar boss Dick Advocaat (FC Zenit, 2008) are the others.