Dynamo Kiev and Club Brugge return to continental action on Thursday evening with a last-32 fixture in the Europa League.
Both clubs finished in third position in their Champions League groups before Christmas, giving them a second shot at going deep in a European competition this season.
Match preview
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Having been drawn alongside Juventus and Barcelona for the Champions League group stages, those associated with Dynamo Kiev would have been quick to acknowledge that earning a place in the Europa League was a best-case scenario.
As expected, four defeats were recorded during those fixtures, leaving Kiev to edge out Ferencvaros in their final game to earn third place in Group G.
Mircea Lucescu will be satisfied with gaining an opportunity in this competition, even if the Ukrainian side are regarded as rank outsiders to reach the latter stages.
On the plus side, their domestic form has been excellent with 33 points from 14 matches keeping them above rivals Shakhtar Donetsk.
Kiev returned from their scheduled break with a 3-1 victory over Olimpik Donetsk, needing to overturn an early deficit to see off the mid-table side.
Opponents Brugge came agonisingly close to reaching the Champions League last 16, only missing out to a Lazio side who held on to claim a share of the spoils on matchday six.
While Philippe Clement and his side were naturally left frustrated, there is a feeling that Brugge can become dark horses on the European scene if they continue their recent progression.
Already sitting 13 points clear in the Belgium top flight, Clement can afford to place full focus on this competition as they bid to go beyond the last-32 stage for the first time since 2015.
Brugge have won their last 10 matches in all competitions, netting at least two goals in each of those encounters.
Dynamo Kiev Champions League form: LDLLLW
Dynamo Kiev form (all competitions): WLWDWW
Club Brugge Champions League form: WDLLWD
Club Brugge form (all competitions): WWWWWW
Team News
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Having played just one competitive game in two months, Lucescu could stick with the same players which featured at the weekend.
Artem Besedin netted a double in that fixture as he made his first appearance since being handed a year-long doping ban by UEFA.
Brugge have been dealt a blow with the news that Stefano Denswil, Matej Mitrovic and Hans Vanaken will all miss out due to positive coronavirus cases.
Manchester United loanee Tahith Cong is expected to be one of the players drafted into the starting XI.
Dynamo Kiev possible starting lineup:
Bushchan; Karavaev, Kedziora, Popov, Mykolenko; Sydorchuk, Shaparenko; Tsygankov, Buyalskyi, De Pena; Besedin
Club Brugge possible starting lineup:
Mignolet; Mata, Kossounou, Mechele, Sobol; Vormer, Rits, Balanta; Chong, Dost, Okereke
We say: Dynamo Kiev 1-1 Club Brugge
Brugge were far the more impressive in Europe before Christmas and they deserve plenty of respect ahead of the trip to Ukraine. Nevertheless, home advantage is still going to play a part, leading us to predict a low-scoring draw being played out in Kiev.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Club Brugge win with a probability of 52.46%. A draw had a probability of 24.3% and a win for Dynamo Kiev had a probability of 23.21%.
The most likely scoreline for a Club Brugge win was 0-1 with a probability of 11.29%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (9.65%) and 0-2 (9.43%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.56%), while for a Dynamo Kiev win it was 1-0 (6.93%). The actual scoreline of 1-1 was predicted with an 11.6% likelihood.
