Atlético v Malmö background

Group A rivals Club Atlético de Madrid and Malmö FF meet for the first time in almost 50 years at the Estadio Vicente Calderón on matchday three.

Previous meetings
• Luis Aragonés scored in both legs when Atlético defeated Malmö 5-1 on aggregate in the first round of the 1966/67 European Champion Clubs' Cup, winning 2-0 away then 3-1 in Spain.

• That remains the only time either club have faced opponents from the other country.

Match background

Club Atlético de Madrid
• Atlético bounced back from an opening 3-2 loss at Olympiacos FC with a 1-0 home victory over Juventus on matchday two.

• With that success over Juve, the Rojiblancos picked up where they left off last season, when they won five and drew one of six home fixtures en route to the UEFA Champions League final.

• Overall, Atlético have won 18 of their last 20 matches at the Vicente Calderón in UEFA competition. The only defeat was a 2-0 loss to FC Rubin Kazan in the UEFA Europa League round of 32 in February 2013.

Malmö FF
• Malmö's 2-0 home success against Olympiacos on 1 October was their first victory in the group stage of a UEFA competition.

• In this season's competition they won 1-0 at FK Ventspils in the second qualifying round but have since suffered three straight defeats on the road – losing at AC Sparta Praha (2-4), FC Salzburg (1-2) and Juventus (0-2).

• Qualifying ties aside, Malmö last posted an away win in the European Cup proper when beating AS Monaco FC 1-0 in the first round in 1978/79 – the season they finished runners-up.

• Malmö are Sweden's first group stage representatives since Helsingborgs IF in 2000/01.

Coach and player links
• Diego Simeone was an unused substitute as Argentina were eliminated from the 2002 FIFA World Cup by a 1-1 group stage draw with Sweden.

• As Helsingborg coach, Åge Hareide lost twice to Levante UD (0-1a, 1-3h) in the 2012/13 UEFA Europa League group stage. With Rosenborg BK in 2003/04, he suffered a UEFA Champions League third qualifying round defeat by RC Deportivo La Coruña (0-0h, 0-1a)

• Markus Rosenberg spent 2010/11 with Real Racing Club and faced Atlético twice, drawing 0-0 away then hitting the winner in a 2-1 home success on 10 May 2011.

• In the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League, Rosenberg scored in SV Werder Bremen's 3-2 group stage win over Real Madrid CF, having earlier lost 2-1 in Spain. In 2009/10 he helped Bremen beat Athletic Club twice (3-1h, 3-0a) in the UEFA Europa League group stage – scoring in Bilbao – before the German side lost to Valencia CF in the last 16.

• Arda Turan's Galatasaray AŞ lost against Helsingborg in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup group stage (2-3h), but Arda was in the Turkey team that beat Sweden 2-1 in a friendly in March this year.

• Markus Halsti played against Mario Suárez and Koke in Finland's 2-0 home loss to Spain in a 2014 FIFA World Cup qualifier in September 2013. Halsti had also appeared as a late substitute in Finland's 1-1 draw in Gijon.

Match facts

Atlético
• The Spanish champions conceded three goals in the opening 13 minutes as they lost 3-1 at Valencia CF on 4 October − their first league defeat of the season. Atlético were 2-0 winners at home to RCD Espanyol on Sunday, Mario Suárez scoring the second goal − his first since September 2012 and his fourth in the Liga for Atlético in his 108th appearance.

• Tiago made his first competitive international appearance in four years as Portugal beat Denmark 1-0 in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying on 14 October.

• On the same night, Antoine Griezmann came off the bench to score in France's 3-0 friendly success against Armenia.

• Koke and Juanfran were in the Spain side that succumbed 2-1 to Slovakia on 9 October, the European champions' first qualifying reverse in 37 matches.

• Saúl Ñíguez scored an own goal as Spain lost 2-1 at home to Serbia in the second leg of their UEFA European Under-21 Championship play-off. The result ended the holders' 35-game unbeaten competitive run and their hopes of making it to next summer's finals.

• Filipe Luís, who joined Chelsea FC in the summer from Atlético, and Miranda are on a three-man shortlist along with Sergio Ramos to be named the Liga's best defender of 2013/14.

Malmö

• Malmö's 13-game unbeaten home run in all competitions ended when they lost 2-1 to IF Elfsborg on Saturday – despite taking the lead 25 seconds in through Rosenberg.

• Malmö clinched the Swedish championship on 5 October, a 3-2 victory over AIK Solna ensuring they became the first team since 2003 to successfully defend the Allsvenskan title.

• The title, Malmö's 18th, was sealed with three rounds to spare.

• The Blues have won just two of their past seven away fixtures – the last two.

• Midfielder Simon Thern was introduced midway through the second half against AIK, his first appearance since breaking his leg in July.

• Emil Forsberg has scored 13 league goals this season, his best ever top-flight return.

• Forsberg started versus Elfsborg, having gone off with a foot problem in the second half of Sweden's 2-0 UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying win against Liechtenstein on 12 October.

• Isaac Thelin scored twice as a Sweden team also including Filip Helander and Pa Konate overturned a 2-0 first-leg defeat by France to win 4-3 on aggregate and seal a place at the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

• Halsti has been playing despite groin problems in recent weeks.