Dortmund v Arsenal background

In the same UEFA Champions League section for the third time in four seasons, Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal FC need no introduction ahead of their opening-night match in Group D.

Previous meetings
• Last season, Dortmund won 2-1 in London – Henrikh Mkhitaryan on target – but lost 1-0 at home to an Aaron Ramsey goal.

• The lineups at BVB Stadion on 6 November 2013 were:
Dortmund: Weidenfeller, Grosskreutz, Subotić, Papastathopoulos, Schmelzer, Bender (Hofmann 75), Nuri Şahin, Błaszczykowski (Aubameyang 74), Mkhitaryan, Reus (Schieber 86), Lewandowski.
Arsenal: Szczęsny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Rosický (Vermaelen 90+1), Arteta, Ramsey, Cazorla (Monreal 75), Özil, Giroud (Bendtner 90).

• Both teams finished level on 12 points with SSC Napoli – Dortmund in first place, Arsenal second.

• In 2011/12, Arsenal drew 1-1 in Germany before a 2-1 home win, Shinji Kagawa scoring Dortmund's consolation.

Match background

Dortmund

• Dortmund, winners in 1996/97 and runners-up two years ago, are in their tenth group stage campaign.

• Last season they reached the quarter-finals, a 2-0 second-leg home win over Real Madrid CF not enough to overturn a 3-0 defeat away.

• They began with a 2-1 defeat at SSC Napoli – the fifth time in their last six matchday one fixtures they had failed to win (D3 L2), the 1-0 victory at home to AFC Ajax in 2012/13 the exception. At home last season, they beat Olympique de Marseille and Napoli either side of the defeat by Arsenal. In the round of 16 they lost 2-1 at home to FC Zenit.

• Last season's loss to Arsenal was their first against English visitors in European competition. Previously they had won four of the seven contests, with three draws.

• Before Arsenal's win, BVB had been victorious in seven successive home UEFA Champions League games.

Arsenal

• Arsenal qualified for their 17th successive group stage campaign with a 1-0 aggregate win over Beşiktaş JK in the play-offs, Alexis Sánchez scoring the winner, his first goal for the club.

• Last season, the Gunners departed in the round of 16 for the fourth consecutive year, with FC Bayern München their conquerors for the second season running. They drew 1-1 in Munich in the second leg but lost 3-1 on aggregate.

• Arsenal are unbeaten in their last ten matchday one fixtures, winning eight (including the last two) with two draws. Their last opening-day defeat was FC Internazionale Milano's 3-0 win at Highbury in 2003.

• Arsenal's record against German clubs away from home is W5 D5 L5; overall it is W14 D6 L10.

• The Gunners have won five of their last ten away games in the competition, drawing three and losing two.

Player links
• Tomáš Rosický played for Dortmund from 2000 to 2006, scoring 19 goals in 149 Bundesliga games.

• Mesut Özil faced BVB four times for Real Madrid in the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League, his 89th-minute free-kick earning a 2-2 group stage draw at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu.

• Özil also faced Dortmund eight times while with FC Schalke 04 and SV Werder Bremen (2006–10), scoring in Bremen's 1-1 draw in 2009.

• Lukas Podolski scored twice against Dortmund in 14 encounters during his eight years with 1. FC Köln and Bayern (2004–12), and helped the latter to a 2-1 win over Dortmund in the 2007/08 German Cup final.

• Per Mertesacker scored two goals in 16 appearances against BVB while with Hannover 96 and SV Werder Bremen (2003–11).

• Arsenal's Özil and Podolski, and Dortmund's Mats Hummels, Marcel Schmelzer, Kevin Grosskreutz, İlkay Gündoğan, Matthias Ginter, Roman Weidenfeller, Erik Durm and Marco Reus, all play together for Germany.

• Jakub Błaszczykowski scored in Poland's 2-2 draw against Schmelzer's Germany in a September 2011 friendly in Gdansk. Wojciech Szczęsny was in goal for Poland and Hummels was on the Germany bench.

• Hummels scored in Germany's 1-0 win over a France side containing Mathieu Debuchy, Laurent Koscielny and Olivier Giroud in this summer's FIFA World Cup quarter-final.

• Sokratis Papastathopoulos scored Greece's equaliser against Joel Campbell's Costa Rica in the World Cup round of 16. Greece lost 5-3 in the penalty shoot-out.

Match facts

Dortmund

• Dortmund kicked off the season on 13 August by defeating FC Bayern München in the German Super Cup for the second successive year.

• Shinji Kagawa marked his first outing since returning to Dortmund with a goal in Saturday's 3-1 victory at home to SC Freiburg.

• Dortmund conceded nine seconds into their league campaign, Karim Bellarabi's goal the fastest in Bundesliga history, in a 2-0 home defeat by Bayer 04 Leverkusen on 23 August.

• İlkay Gündoğan (out since August 2013, back) has resumed light training. Mats Hummels (muscular problems) is a major doubt but Marcel Schmelzer (thigh) is back in full training.

• Jakub Błaszczykowski had also returned to training following a knee injury that has kept him out until January but suffered a thigh strain this week and has been ruled out for another four to six weeks.

• Nuri Şahin underwent knee surgery on 3 September and is expected to be sidelined for around two months. Marco Reus was ruled out for four weeks after damaging ankle ligaments during Germany's UEFA EURO 2016 qualifier against Scotland on 7 September. He sat out the FIFA World Cup campaign with another ankle problem.

• Oliver Kirch has not played since sustaining a thigh injury in training on 19 August.

• Dortmund announced on 2 September that Erik Durm had extended his contract until 2019.

• Roman Weidenfeller, Hummels, Matthias Ginter, Durm and Kevin Grosskreutz were all part of Germany's victorious World Cup squad.

Arsenal

• Mathieu Debuchy, who suffered an ankle injury on Saturday, is suspended following his red card in the play-off second leg against Beşiktaş JK.

• Martín Demichelis headed in an 83rd-minute equaliser on Saturday as Arsenal were held 2-2 by Manchester City FC. The Gunners have conceded a headed goal in all four of their Premier League matches this season.

• Summer signing Alexis Sánchez has scored in each of his last three appearances for the Gunners.

• Arsenal are 14 matches unbeaten in all competitions, seven of them this season, dating back to a 3-0 loss at Everton FC on 6 April.

• Deadline day arrival Danny Welbeck took his tally of international goals to ten in 28 caps with two second-half strikes in England's UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying victory over Switzerland on 8 September. He made his Arsenal debut on Saturday.

• Calum Chambers, 19, made his senior England debut in a 1-0 friendly win against Norway on 3 September.

• Yaya Sanogo scored twice in France U21's 5-1 triumph over Kazakhstan on 4 September and broke the deadlock in a 1-1 draw with Iceland four days later – his first goals at U21 level.

• Theo Walcott, out since early January with a left knee injury, told the Arsenal website on 9 September that "it's hopefully now only a matter of weeks before I'll be back playing."