St-Étienne v Dnipro background

AS Saint-Étienne will tackle FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in UEFA Europa League Group F mindful that they went on to reach their only major European final the last time they faced Ukrainian opposition.

Form guide
• St-Étienne's sole previous encounter with a Ukrainian side came in the quarter-finals of the 1975/76 European Champion Clubs' Cup, when they overcame FC Dynamo Kyiv in extra time en route to their only European final – and a 1-0 loss to FC Bayern München in Glasgow.

• Dnipro have yet to beat French opponents but have drawn six of their eight encounters with French teams – including the last three games.

• St-Étienne have lost only one of their last 13 European homes matches (1-0 to Esbjerg fB in last season's UEFA Europa League play-offs), with the remaining 12 games in that run ending W6 D6.

• Dnipro are without a win in their last four UEFA away contests (D1 L3).

Trivia and links
• Dnipro's Ruslan Rotan, Roman Zozulya and Yevhen Konoplyanka were all involved as France beat Ukraine in the November 2013 play-offs for the FIFA World Cup finals. Ukraine won 2-0 at home but lost the return leg 3-0 in Saint-Denis.

The coaches
• A defender for hometown club Olympique de Marseille, LOSC Lille and Toulouse FC among others, St-Étienne boss Christophe Galtier took up his current position in 2009, helping Les Verts to win the 2012/13 French Cup. He had previously assisted Alain Perrin and Richard Tardy, working in England and Greece as well as France.

• Dnipro coach since 2014, Myron Markevych started out as a midfielder with hometown club FC Karpaty Lviv, and while his playing career was not a huge success, he served Karpaty in four spells as a coach before a lengthy stint at FC Metalist Kharkiv earned him a reputation for attacking football. He briefly coached Ukraine in 2010.