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Spurs and Shakhtar compare cup records

Cup specialists from both ends of Europe meet in the Round of 32 with two-time winners Tottenham Hotspur FC concluding their bid for a last-16 place with a home tie against FC Shakhtar Donetsk.

Spurs manager Harry Redknapp
Spurs manager Harry Redknapp ©Getty Images

Two teams boasting rich domestic cup pedigrees will continue to jostle for a place in the UEFA Cup Round of 16, when two-time competition winners Tottenham Hotspur FC welcome FC Shakhtar Donetsk for the second leg of their Round of 32 tie.

• Yevgen Seleznov and Jadson struck late on in Shakhtar's 2-0 first-leg victory, which was the two sides' first meeting in European club competition.

• Prior to the first leg, Tottenham had never faced Ukrainian opposition before.

• Before this season, Shakhtar's only European encounters against an English side came in the first group stage of the 2000/01 UEFA Champions League. They were beaten 3-2 away by Arsenal FC on 20 September 2000 but won the return 3-0 at home on 7 November.

• Prior to the first leg, Shakhtar's Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu had been in charge for six UEFA club competition games against English top-division sides while at the helm of FC Internazionale Milano, Galatasaray AŞ and Beşiktaş JK, but had yet to taste victory.

• His European coaching record against English clubs now reads W1 D3 L3. Away from home, club teams under his command have picked up two draws and one defeat.

• Lucescu also coached Romania in two 1986 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against England, which finished 0-0 at home and 1-1 away. What is more, the former attacker was up front for FC Dinamo 1948 Bucureşti in a 1-1 home draw with West Bromwich Albion FC in the second round of the 1968/69 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup.

• Harry Redknapp, who replaced Juande Ramos as Tottenham manager on 26 October, had never come up against Ukrainian opponents before the first leg.

• Shakhtar academy graduate Serhiy Rebrov was a Spurs player between 2000 and 2004, scoring ten goals in 60 league appearances. He is now with Russian champions FC Rubin Kazan.

• Shakhtar midfielder Darijo Srna and Tottenham counterpart Luka Modrić are both regular starters for the Croatian national team.

• Spurs' Brazilian midfielder Gilberto, who has seen little action since joining the club from Hertha BSC Berlin in January 2008, played under Lucescu at Inter in 1998/99. He made just two Serie A appearances that season.

• Tottenham are unbeaten in three European home games this season.

• Shakhtar have won three and lost just one of four away fixtures in UEFA club competition this season.

• Hailing from the coal-rich Donbass region, Shakhtar's name literally means 'Miner'. Their nicknames, Hirnyky (the Pitmen) and Kroty (the Moles), also refer to their colliery roots.

• The 'Hotspur' in Tottenham's name is reputedly a reference to Sir Thomas Percy, the 'Harry Hotspur' of William Shakespeare's Henry IV Part I, who lived in north London in the 14th century.

• Shakhtar are one of six sides in the UEFA Cup who qualified for Europe this season as domestic champions. The others are R. Standard de Liège (Belgium), Olympiacos CFP (Greece), Aalborg BK (Denmark), Galatasaray AŞ (Turkey) and FC Zenit St. Petersburg (Russia).

• Both Spurs and Shakhtar have a reputation as domestic cup specialists. Though the pair have also won league titles, Tottenham twice claiming the English crown and Shakhtar boasting four Ukrainian championships, they have long been sides to be feared in knockout competition. Shakhtar have won four USSR Cups and a further six Ukrainian ones, while Spurs have won eight FA Cups and four League Cups.

• Tottenham have been involved in two UEFA club competition penalty shoot-outs. Spurs beat RSC Anderlecht 4-3 on penalties at White Hart Lane after their two-legged 1983/84 UEFA Cup final ended 2-2 on aggregate. In the Round of 16 of last year's UEFA Cup, they lost 6-5 on spot-kicks at PSV Eindhoven following a 1-1 overall draw.

• Shakhtar were beaten 4-1 on penalties away to Club Brugge KV following a 2-2 aggregate result in the third qualifying round of the 2002/03 UEFA Champions League. It was their only UEFA competition shoot-out to date.

• Shakhtar finished third in UEFA Champions League Group C to reach the UEFA Cup Round of 32. Tottenham, who came eleventh in the 2007/08 Premier League but won the League Cup, finished second in UEFA Cup Group D.

• Jadson, Shakhtar's top scorer in Europe this season, took his tally to five goals with his first-leg effort. Darren Bent is Tottenham's most prolific UEFA Cup striker with four goals.

• Shakhtar have Tomáš Hübschman back after a one-match ban, but team-mates Dmytro Chygrynskiy, Olexandr Kucher and Srna are within a booking of a suspension, as is Tottenham's Gareth Bale.

• The winners of this tie will take on Aston Villa FC or PFC CSKA Moskva in the Round of 16 on 12 and 18/19 March, and will play the second leg at home.

• The Round of 16 could therefore include a third all-English UEFA Cup tie. Wolverhampton Wanderers FC met Tottenham in the 1971/72 final while Spurs took on Liverpool FC in the semi-finals the following season.