Tottenham's Wembley 'curse' and Zidane aims to make history - Champions League in Opta numbers
September 12, 2017 16:02 MYT
Tottenham will aim to tackle their supposed Wembley curse as the Champions League continues on Wednesday, with Real Madrid seeking to win the tournament for the third year in a row.
No manager has won the Champions League three times in succession so Zinedine Zidane will be out to make history, and has the competition's record goalscorer Cristiano Ronaldo available despite serving a domestic ban.
Elsewhere, RB Leipzig will make their Champions League bow against last season's semi-finalists Monaco, the Ligue 1 champions shorn of many of the stars who fired them to glory in France last year.
Premier League sides Liverpool and Manchester City also get up and running with their first group games on Wednesday and here we examine the upcoming schedule with the help of Opta facts.
TOTTENHAM v BORUSSIA DORTMUND
- Tottenham and Dortmund's only previous encounter was in the round of 16 of the 2015-16 Europa League. The German side won 5-1 on aggregate.
LIVERPOOL v SEVILLA
- Liverpool and Sevilla's only previous encounter came in the final of the 2016 Europa League. Sevilla won 3-1.
REAL MADRID v APOEL NICOSIA
- Real Madrid and APOEL Nicosia's only previous encounter was in the quarter-finals of the 2011-12 Champions League. Madrid won 8-2 on aggregate.
FEYENOORD v MANCHESTER CITY
- None of Manchester City's 36 Champions League group games have ended goalless. They have also only kept five clean sheets in those 36 matches.
RB LEIPZIG v MONACO
- This is the first game in European competition for RB Leipzig, and therefore their first encounter with Monaco.
SHAKHTAR DONETSK v NAPOLI
- Dries Mertens has been directly involved in seven of Napoli's last 10 Champions League goals (five goals, two assists).
MARIBOR v SPARTAK MOSCOW
- Spartak Moscow have reached the knockout stages of the Champions League only once in their 11 previous appearances - in 1995-96 when they were quarter-finalists.
PORTO v BESIKTAS
- Porto have made it to the Champions League group stages for the 22nd time, which equals the record held by Barcelona and Real Madrid.