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Champions League

Man Utd's dismal knockout run and Roma's Shakhtar curse

The pick of the Opta numbers offer some intriguing insight into Manchester United's trip to Sevilla and Shakhtar Donetsk's clash with Roma.

Man Utd's dismal knockout run and Roma's Shakhtar curse
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The first legs of the Champions League round-of-16 conclude on Wednesday, with Shakhtar Donetsk hosting Roma and Manchester United taking on Sevilla.

Vincenzo Montella's side do not have the best record in the knockout phase and wins were hard to come by in the group stage, although United themselves have had a pretty torrid run of results in the latter stages.

Roma came top of a tough group but have not gone beyond the last 16 for a decade, and they have made a habit of struggling against Shakhtar in this competition.

Here are some of the best Opta numbers ahead of two more crunch clashes...

Shakhtar Donetsk v Roma

- Shakhtar Donetsk have won three of their four competitive games against Roma (L1), all in the Champions League.

- Shakhtar have reached the knockout stages in four of their last seven Champions League campaigns, their best performance dating back to 2010-11, when they beat Roma in the round of 16.

- Roma have made the knockout stages for the sixth time in their last seven participations. However, it's been 10 years since they last reached the quarter-finals (2007-08); in fact, Roma have lost seven of their last eight Champions League knockout games (W1).

- Shakhtar have won their three home games in the Champions League this season, scoring at least two goals in each of their last five outings on home soil. None of their last 13 Champions League games has ended in a draw (W5 L8).

47 - Roma have picked up the fewest yellow cards (4) and committed the fewest fouls (47) in this season's Champions League.

Sevilla v Manchester United

1 - Manchester United have not managed to score more than one goal in each of their last 14 Champions League encounters with Spanish opposition (7 goals total), and have won only one of their last six knockout games (3-0 v Olympiacos in March 2014), drawing two and losing three.

0 - Sevilla have never kept a clean sheet in the Champions League knockout stages (6 games) but they have won two of their three home games (L1).

72 - Sevilla have won 72 per cent of their home games in the Champions League (13 out of 18), the third highest tally after Real Madrid (76 per cent) and Barcelona (73 per cent) among teams to have played at least 15 home games in the competition.

2 - Sevilla have won only two of their six games this season, the lowest tally among the 16 teams left in the competition, and conceded 12 goals in the six group games, the highest tally amongst the teams left.

50 - Wissam Ben Yedder has scored 50 per cent of Sevilla's goals in this season’s Champions League (six out of 12). Of all players of the progressed teams, only Cristiano Ronaldo netted a greater proportion of his side's goals in the group stages (53 per cent).