Atlético target three in a row at Rostov

Club Atlético de Madrid will look to maintain their flying start at the top of Group D when they visit UEFA Champions League newcomers FC Rostov.

Match background

Rostov
• Ivan Daniliants' team are still seeking a first victory in the UEFA Champions League group stage after opening their campaign with a 5-0 defeat at FC Bayern München and a 2-2 home draw with PSV Eindhoven.

• With their draw against PSV, Rostov made it three games unbeaten at home in Europe this term. They faced RSC Anderlecht (2-2) and AFC Ajax (4-1) in qualifying.

• Rostov are hosting Spanish opposition for the first time. Overall, this is the ninth European home game in their history, including their 1999 and 2000 UEFA Intertoto Cup campaigns (W2 D3 L3).

Atlético de Madrid
• Last season's runners-up Atlético are top of Group D after 1-0 victories over PSV Eindhoven (away) and Bayern (home).

• With victory in Russia, Atleti would start the group stage with three straight wins for only the second time; in 2013/14 they began with four in a row.

• Atlético are unbeaten in four previous visits to Russia (W2 D2).

• Their most recent encounter with Russian opposition came in the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League group stage, when they took four points off FC Zenit (3-1 h, 1-1 a).

Coach and player links
• Diego Simeone scored an 88th-minute equaliser in Moscow to earn FC Internazionale Milano a 1-1 draw at FC Spartak Moskva in the 1998/99 UEFA Champions League group stage. He had previously won 2-1 at Spartak with Inter in a 1997/98 UEFA Cup semi-final second-leg tie.

• César Navas made 114 appearances for Real Madrid CF's second team, Castilla, between 1999 and 2003. His final season coincided with Juanfran's first.

• Navas also had spells in Spain with Málaga CF, Club Gimnàstic and Real Racing Club and faced Atlético five times (W1 L4). He was sent off the last time, a 4-1 away defeat with Racing in November 2008.

• Saeid Ezatolahi made five appearance for Atlético's C team in 2014/15, and represented the club in their 2-0 UEFA Youth League quarter-final loss at Chelsea in March 2015.

• Cristian Noboa was in the FC Rubin side who earned a shock 2-1 win at FC Barcelona on 20 October 2009 in the UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Kevin Gameiro came off the bench to hit Sevilla FC's 85th-minute equaliser in a 2-2 second-leg draw at Zenit in the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League quarter-finals (agg 4-3).

• Fernando Torres struck three goals for Chelsea FC in their 5-4 aggregate quarter-final victory over Rubin in the 2012/13 UEFA Europa League.

• Stefan Savić lost 2-0 in Russia with Montenegro in a UEFA EURO 2016 qualifier last October.

Match facts

Rostov
• Rostov are 26 games unbeaten at home in all competitions (W18 D8), since a 1-0 defeat by FC Terek Grozny in May 2015.

• Maksim Grigoriev has not played since November last year because of a cruciate knee ligament injury but was on the bench for Saturday's 1-0 defeat at FC Spartak Moskva.

• Fedor Kudryashov (thigh) and Aleksandr Bukharov (muscular problem) have both been sidelined in recent weeks. Kudryashov was sent off against Spartak.

• Rostov defeated Russian title holders and fellow UEFA Champions League hopefuls PFC CSKA Moskva 2-0 on 2 October.

Atlético
• Atlético are ten matches unbeaten this season, winning seven.

• Antoine Griezmann has six goals in seven Liga outings this term but was not among the scorers in Saturday's 7-1 victory against Granada CF. Yannick Carrasco scored his first ever senior hat-trick in what was Atleti's biggest win since they beat Getafe CF 7-0 in November 2013.

• Griezmann has failed to convert his last three penalties for Atlético – against Bayern and Valencia CF in his last two outings prior to the Granada game, and previously in May's UEFA Champions League final.

• Atleti have missed three penalties in their last three games as Gabi also failed with a spot kick against Valencia.

• José María Giménez has missed the last three matches with a groin injury.

• Augusto Fernández could miss the rest of the season after rupturing his cruciate ligament on 25 September.

• Captain Gabi signed a one-year contract extension during the international break, tying him to the club until 2018.

• Gameiro (2) and Griezmann scored as France beat Bulgaria 4-1 in FIFA World Cup qualifying on 7 October. Savić (Montenegro 5-0 Kazakhstan) and Filipe Luís (Brazil 5-0 Bolivia) were also on target last week.

• All seven of Ángel Correa's Liga goals had come as a substitute before he started and scored against Granada.