PREVIEW: Champions League Week 2 (02 October)

FOOTBALL - The following are key facts about the UEFA Champions League matches that will take place on Tuesday 2 October: FC Nordsjælland - Chelsea, Juventus - Shakhtar Donetsk, BATE Borisov - Bayern München, Valencia CF - Lille OSC, Benfica - FC Barcelona, Spartak Moskva - Celtic, Galatasaray - Sporting Braga, CFR 1907 and Cluj - Manchester United.

Group E: Nordsjælland - Chelsea (2 October, 20:45 CET)

> After the opening match round the Danish squad is on 14 Champions League appearances together. The Chelsea players are currently on a total of 726 CL matches.

> Chelsea have conceded 99 goals in Champions League history. Manchester United (169) and Arsenal (145) are the only two English clubs to have conceded at least 100 goals in CL to date.

> Chelsea have scored at least one goal in any of their last 15 matches in the CL since a 0-1 home defeat against Manchester United in April 2011. This is already a club record.

Group E: Juventus - Shakhtar Donetsk (2 October, 20:45 CET)

> Juventus and Shakhtar Donetsk met twice before in European cup matches. In the third round of the 1976/77 UEFA Cup season Juventus won 3-0 at home and Shakhtar won their home match with 1-0. This was Shakhtar’s first season in European competitions.

> Juventus have not lost any of their last 29 home matches in all competitions (W19–D 10). (As of Sep 28)

> Shakhtar Donetsk have won their last two matches in the Champions League, both with a clean sheet. The last time Shakhtar won three matches in a row with a clean sheet in Europe was between October 2009 en December 2009. Their club record is four matches, between October 2002 en August 2003.

Group F: BATE Borisov - Bayern München (2 October, 20:45 CET)

> These teams meet each other for the first time in a European club competition. Bayern is BATE’s first ever German opposition and BATE is Bayern’s first ever Belarusian opposition.

> Against Lille OSC in matchround 1, BATE have won their first ever match in CL history after drawing five and losing seven. Only AEK Athinai waited longer than 13 matches for their first win (first win in 22nd CL match).

> Three German teams, including Bayern, won their opening match in this season’s CL. The last time this happened was in 1997/1998:  Bayern München – Besiktas 2-0, Bayer Leverkusen – Lierse SK 1-0 and Galatasaray – Borussia Dortmund 0-1.

Group F: Valencia CF - Lille OSC (2 October, 20:45 CET)

> Valencia are unbeaten in their last 15 matches against French opponents.

> Valencia are unbeaten in their last six Champions League home matches. This is their longest unbeaten streak at home since their record in this tournament. From August 1999 to November 2002 they were unbeaten for 20 matches.

> Lille have never won on Spanish soil (1D, 3L).

Group G: Benfica - FC Barcelona (2 October, 20:45 CET)

> Benfica have not won any of their last six home matches against Spanish opposition since a 2-1 win vs Real Betis in the first round of 1982/83 UEFA Cup.

> Benfica are winless in their last three European matches. The last time they failed to win four in a row was in Oct-Dec 2008.

> FC Barcelona have scored a record 129 goals in CL away matches, but none in their last two. If they fail to score against Benfica they will set a new club record.

Group G: Spartak Moskva - Celtic (2 October, 18:00 CET)

> Spartak Moskva and Celtic have squared off in two previous European matches, both in the 3rd qualification round in the 2007/08 CL. Both legs finished in 1-1 and the return leg in Glasgow went into extra time and penalties with the hosts prevailing 4-3 in a shootout. In that match both sides had hit the woodwork with a penalty in the 120 minutes leading up to the shootout. Roman Pavlyuchenko struck the post on behalf of the visitors (25th minute). Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink hit the bar with his attempt in the 116th minute.

> Spartak Moskva have won 20 of their 69 CL matches and those victories are equally distributed between home and away matches (10 each). The big difference for Spartak is draws, of which they have registered 14 in home matches and only 10 in away matches.

> Celtic have lost their last 11 CL away matches since a 1-1 draw at FC Barcelona in November 2004, their last CL away match under manager Martin O’Neill. The competition record is 12 successive away defeats and is held by forthcoming CL opponents Spartak Moskva, who set the mark between October 2000 and December 2006.

Group H: CFR 1907 Cluj - Manchester United (2 October, 20:45 CET)

> This is the first ever meeting between Manchester United and Cluj. This is the 91st different club Manchester United have faced in European football.

> CFR 1907 Cluj won 2-0 at Braga on matchday 1. If they win today they will become the first ever Romanian club to win each of their first two CL group stage matches.

> Manchester United are one short of picking up their 100th ever victory in the Champions League (excluding qualifiers). They will become the second team to reach this milestone in the main CL phase after Real Madrid (100). Barcelona currently have 98.

Group H: Galatasaray - Sporting Braga (2 October, 20;45 CET)

> Sporting Braga’s first taste of Turkish opposition came in last season’s Europa League. In the Last 32 stage, Braga lost 2-0 at home to Besiktas and managed to win the return leg by 1-0, which saw the Istanbul side prevail 2-1 on aggregate.

> Galatasaray lost their opening match against Manchester United. They have started out a CL campaign with two successive defeats twice before. In 1997/1998, they finished bottom in the group after losing their first two. In 2003/2004, they managed to finish third in their group after losing their first two.

> Sporting Braga are undefeated in their last six European away matches, since losing 2-1 at Benfica in the semifinals of the 2010/2011, a result that Braga backed up in the return leg (1-0 home victory) to advance to the final on the away goals rule. Braga would go on to lose that final 1-0 against FC Porto.