Real Madrid must beat Borussia Dortmund on matchday six if they are to progress to the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League as Group F winners.
• Dortmund, who beat Legia Warszawa 8-4 last time out, hold a two-point advantage over Madrid going into their final fixture of the group stage and need only a draw to cement first place.
• The clubs drew 2-2 in Germany on matchday two, André Schürrle hitting an 87th-minute equaliser to snatch a point for Dortmund.
Previous meetings
• Madrid are unbeaten in five previous encounters with Dortmund in Spain.
• Prior to this season, the clubs last met in the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, Madrid prevailing 3-2 on aggregate en route to lifting the trophy.
• Gareth Bale, Isco and Cristiano Ronaldo earned Carlo Ancelotti’s Madrid a 3-0 first-leg lead before Dortmund, managed by Jürgen Klopp, fell just short of a fine comeback despite a 2-0 victory in Germany through two Marco Reus strikes.
• The line-ups for that first leg at the Santiago Bernabéu on 2 April 2014 were:
Madrid: Casillas, Carvajal, Pepe, Ramos, Fábio Coentrão, Alonso, Modrić, Isco (Illarramendi 72), Ronaldo (Casemiro 80), Bale, Benzema (Morata 75).
Dortmund: Weidenfeller, Piszczek (Schieber 67), Papastathopoulos, Hummels, Durm, Kehl (Jojić 74), Nuri Şahin, Reus, Mkhitaryan (Hofmann 64), Grosskreutz, Aubameyang.
• The teams met in the group stage of the 2012/13 competition, when Dortmund finished above Madrid with the help of a 2-1 home win – Robert Lewandowski and Marcel Schmelzer scoring either side of Ronaldo – and a 2-2 draw in Madrid where Pepe and Marco Reus featured on the scoresheet.
• The clubs were reunited in the semi-finals that season and Dortmund won the first leg 4-1 at home, Lewandowski getting all four goals to send his side through despite a 2-0 reverse in Madrid where Karim Benzema and Sergio Ramos scored.
• Roman Weidenfeller is the solitary survivor of the sides’ meetings in the 2002/03 second group stage, when Madrid won 2-1 at the Bernabéu and then drew 1-1 in Dortmund. Zinédine Zidane played in both matches too.
• Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc and youth-team coordinator Lars Ricken played in Dortmund’s 1997/98 UEFA Champions League semi-final loss to Madrid (0-2 a, 0-0 h).
Match background
Madrid
• Including this season’s victories over Sporting Clube de Portugal (2-1) and Legia (5-1), Madrid are on an eight-match winning streak at home in the UEFA Champions League.
• They have won 28 of their last 32 UEFA Champions League home fixtures, losing just once – 4-3 to German side FC Schalke 04 in 2014/15.
• That defeat by Schalke was Madrid’s only reverse in their last 14 home games against German teams (W11, D2). Cristiano Ronaldo hit a hat-trick when they last hosted Bundesliga opposition, beating VfL Wolfsburg 3-0 in last season’s round of 16 to overturn a 2-0 first-leg deficit.
• It is 50 years since Madrid first welcomed German visitors, overcoming TSV 1860 München 3-1 in a European Cup second-round tie in November 1966. Their overall home record against Bundesliga sides is W23 D4 L3.
Dortmund
• Thomas Tuchel’s men have already won twice on the road this season having overwhelmed Legia 6-0 on matchday one – their record European away victory – then beaten Sporting 2-1.
• Since the beginning of last term, Dortmund have won seven of their ten European away games played (W7 D1 L2).
• Dortmund have won just once in 12 previous visits to Spain (D4 L7). That solitary success was a 1-0 victory at Club Atlético de Madrid in the 1996/97 group stage, courtesy of a Stefan Reuter goal.
Coach and player links
• Zidane was in the Juventus team defeated 3-1 by Dortmund in the 1996/97 UEFA Champions League final.
• Nuri Şahin spent 2011/12 with Madrid, making 12 appearances.
• Łukasz Piszczek’s Poland suffered a UEFA EURO 2016 quarter-final defeat on penalties against Ronaldo and Pepe’s Portugal.
• Nuri Şahin was in the Turkey team beaten 3-0 by the Spain of Sergio Ramos and the two-goal Morata in the UEFA EURO 2016 group stage.
• Luka Modrić scored the only goal for Croatia when they beat a Turkey side including Emre Mor 1-0 in the same group stage at UEFA EURO 2016. The pair met again in a 1-1 draw in a 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying tie on 5 September.
• Schürrle and Toni Kroos each scored twice as Germany beat a Brazil side containing Marcelo 7-1 in the 2014 FIFA World Cup semi-finals.
• Kroos played 17 times against Dortmund for Leverkusen and Bayern, scoring one goal (W5 D3 L9).
• Marc Bartra’s only outing for FC Barcelona against Madrid came in their 2-1 Copa del Rey final defeat in 2014.
• Mario Götze was in the FC Bayern München side beaten by Madrid in the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League semi-finals.
• As a Bayer 04 Leverkusen player in 2012/13, Carvajal lost home (2-3) and away (0-3) to Dortmund.
• International team-mates (non-Germany/Spain):
Raphaël Guerreiro Cristiano Ronaldo Pepe (Portugal)
Adrián Ramos James Rodríguez (Colombia)
Ousmane Dembélé Raphaël Varane (France)
Tagged with: betting news • eurpean football • football • footballnews • live sport channels • sport betting • sport odds • teams reviews
