PREVIEW: Champions League Week 1 (19 September)

FOOTBALL - The following are key facts about the UEFA Champions League matches that will take place on Wednesday 19 September: Chelsea - Juventus, Shakhtar Donetsk - Nordsjælland, Bayern Munich - Valencia, Lille OSC - BATE Borisov, Celtic - Benfica, FC Barcelona - Spartak Moskva, Sporting Braga - CFR 1907 Cluj, Manchester United - Galatasaray.

Group E: Chelsea - Juventus (19 September, 20:45 CET)

> Juve have won only 2 of their 20 European away matches in England. On 2 March 1983 they beat Aston Villa in the quarterfinal of the Champions Cup (1-2) and in 1996 they defeated Man United in the group stage of the Champions League: 0-1. 

> Are the defending Champions League holders and are aiming to become the first club to win the trophy in back-to-back years. Since the introduction of the CL in 1992/1993 no team has won the trophy in consecutive year

> Together with AC Milan, Juventus is the only Italian team which has qualified for the 2012/2013 Champions League main tournament. The last time only two teams participated in the main draw was in 1998/1999, when Internazionale reached the quarterfinals and Juventus the semi-finals.

Group E: Shakhtar Donetsk - FC Nordsjælland (19 September 20:45 CET)

> This is the first encounter between the Shakhtar and Nordsjælland in European competition.

> Shakhtar will participate in the Champions League for their eighth time. Their best result is a quarterfinal place in 2010/11. That was also the only season they reached the CL knock-out stage.

> FC Nordsjælland will make their debut in the Champions League as the fourth Danish team ever in the tournament after AaB, Brøndby and FC København.

Group F: Bayern Munich - Valencia CF (19 September, 20:45 CET)

> Bayern are unbeaten in their last seven Champions League home matches, Valencia did not win their last six away.

> The last three matches between these teams ended in 1-1 draws after regular playing time. The last wins for both teams came in their UEFA Cup round-of-32 in September, 1996 - 1-0 home win for Bayern, 3-0 home win for Valencia.

> Bayern have lost only one of their 19 home matches vs Spanish clubs (13W-5D-1L) - against Deportivo La Coruña (2-3) in the group phase of the 2002/2003 CL in Sep 2002. Roy Makaay, who would later move to Bayern, scored a hat-trick for Deportivo.

Group F: Lille OSC - BATE Borisov (19 September 20:45 CET)

> Lille OSC and BATE Borisov have never met in any European competition. Last season was the first time that both teams competed in the same edition of the Champions League. Neither managed to survive the group stage. 

> Lille have never won their opening match of a CL campaign. Twice they started with a defeat and twice with a draw.

> BATE have not won any of their 12 matches in the Champions League (W0-D5–L7).

Group G: FC Barcelona - Spartak Moskva (19 September 20:45 CET)

> Barcelona have not lost any of their last 16 home matches in the Champions League. The last team to defeat Barça in their own Camp Nou was Russian - Rubin Kazan in 2009.

> Barcelona have scored at least one goal in each of their last 18 home matches in the Champions League. They need one more home match in which they score to equalise AC Milan’s streak of scoring at least one goal in 19 consecutive matches, which Milan set between March 1995 and February 2003. The all-time record was set by Juventus between September 1995 and September 2000 when they managed to score at least one goal in 21 consecutive home matches. The last match Barça did not score at home was against Chelsea on 28 April 2009 (0-0).

> Spartak Moskva are currently on a streak of 29 away matches without a win in the Champions League. This is already a CL record. Their last away draw was on 2 November 1994 against Bayern München: 2-2. Goalscorers: Andrei Tikhonov and Dmitry Alenichev for Spartak, Christian Nerlinger and Samuel Kuffour for Bayern.

Group G: Celtic - Benfica (19 September 20:45 CET)

> Benfica have never drawn in all of their eight matches against Scottish clubs. (W5-D0–L3).

> If victorious, the match against Benfica will be Celtic’s 50th home win in the CC/CL.

> Benfica will play their 200th Champions Cup/CL match against Celtic (W94–D45–L60). 

Group H: Manchester United - Galatasaray (19 September 20:45 CET)

> It is 16 years since Manchester United lost their opening CL group stage match – 1-0 at Juventus on September 11, 1996. Since then they have won eight and drawn seven of their opening 15 matches.

> Unbeaten in their last 11 CL home matches. Their last home defeat came against Turkish opposition – 1-0 to Besiktas in Nov 2009.

> Striker Milan Baros failed to score in all seven PL matches against Manchester United when he played in England, and was on the losing side in all seven.

Group H: Sporting Braga - CFR 1907 Cluj (19 September 20:45 CET)

> This is the first time Sporting Braga and CFR 1907 Cluj meet in a European competition.

> Four Romanian clubs have made a total of previous 10 appearances in Champions League history (excluding Cluj this season). Never has any of these clubs (Cluj, Otelul Galati, Steaua Bucuresti and Unirea Urziceni) progressed from the first group stage. 

> Of Cluj’s current squad, only two players have scored before in the Champions League: Ionut Rada (2) and Cadú (1).