Rostov hoping to show Bayern resistance

FC Rostov host five-time winners FC Bayern München looking to put up rather more resistance than they managed when the clubs met in Bavaria on matchday one.

• Bayern beat Rostov 5-0 to spoil the Russian newcomers' UEFA Champions League debut but though they remain without a win in Group D, Ivan Daniliants' men are growing in experience and would have taken a point at Club Atlético de Madrid last time out but for a 93rd-minute goal.

• As for Bayern, they secured their place in the round of 16 for the ninth season running when winning 2-1 at PSV Eindhoven on matchday four.

Match background

Rostov
• Rostov were unbeaten at home for 26 matches in all competitions prior to succumbing 1-0 to Atlético in their last Group D outing at the Olimp 2 Stadium.

• Third in the section, they retain hope of European football after Christmas but will not want to slip behind bottom-placed PSV before their matchday six visit to the Netherlands.

• Prior to this season, last season's Russian Premier-Liga runners-up had played just ten European matches in their entire history – two fewer than Bayern contested in 2015/16.

Bayern
• Bayern are second in the Group D standings, three points behind Atlético. They last failed to qualify as group winners in 2009/10.

• Thomas Müller scored from the penalty spot on Bayern's last two visits to Russia – UEFA Champions League group stage matches against PFC CSKA Moskva in 2013/14 (won 3-1) and 2014/15 (won 1-0).

• Philipp Lahm and Franck Ribéry are survivors of Bayern's 4-0 loss at FC Zenit in the 2008 UEFA Cup semi-finals – their only defeat in nine previous trips to Russia (W5, D3).

Coach and player links
• Home coach Danilants faced Germany in UEFA EURO 2000 qualifying during his time in charge of Moldova's national team and lost both at home (1-3) and away (1-6).

• Carlo Ancelotti's first taste of UEFA competition was as an Italy Under-21 player in a 3-1 defeat in the Soviet Union in April 1980. Eight years later he was in the Italy side beaten 2-0 by the USSR in the semi-final of the 1988 UEFA European Championship.

• Ancelotti was in charge of the Juventus side who beat Rostov 4-0 away and 5-1 at home in the 1999 UEFA Intertoto Cup – the Russian club's debut appearance in European competition.

• Ancelotti enjoyed victories on both of his previous visits to Russia in the UEFA Champions League: 1-0 at FC Lokomotiv Moskva with AC Milan in the 2002/03 second group stage; 2-0 at FC Spartak Moskva with Chelsea FC in the 2010/11 group stage.

• Kingsley Coman hit his first goal for France in a 4-2 friendly defeat of Russia on 29 March this year.

• Arturo Vidal and Christian Noboa faced off in the opening game of the 2015 Copa América, Bayern's Chilean midfielder scoring in the tournament hosts' 2-0 victory over Noboa's Ecuador.

• Ribéry scored twice for France in a 4-2 FIFA World Cup qualifying win away to Timofei Kalachev's Belarus in September 2013. Kalachev hit his side's second goal.

• On 11 November Robert Lewandowski scored twice in Poland's 3-0 win away against Romania, for whom Andrei Prepeliţă came on as a half-time substitute.

Match facts

Rostov
• Rostov equalled their biggest victory of the season when they defeated FC Arsenal Tula 4-1 on 6 November, Aleksandr Erokhin scoring twice.

• Aleksandr Gatskan's equaliser against Georgia on 12 November secured Moldova their first point in Group D of the European Qualifiers for the FIFA World Cup.

• Miha Mevlja scored his first international goal as Slovenia drew 1-1 with Poland in a friendly on 14 November.

• Soslan Dzhanaev left the Russia squad with a shoulder injury after the 2-1 defeat in Qatar on 10 November but played in Friday's goalless draw at FC Rubin.

• Aleksandr Bukharov, out since 9 September, returned to the side as a late substitute at Rubin.

Bayern
• Lahm will incur a suspension with his next booking.

• Bayern were eight matches unbeaten in all competitions, winning five, prior to Saturday's 1-0 defeat at Borussia Dortmund.

• Robert Lewandowski was on target twice for Poland in a 3-0 win against Romania in the European Qualifiers for the World Cup. Lewandowski has scored 21 goals in his last 20 games for club and country.

• On 13 November, Arjen Robben opened the scoring for the Netherlands in their 3-1 victory against Luxembourg but was substituted at half-time with a thigh problem.

• Coman suffered knee and ankle injuries in France training on 9 November and will be out for the rest of the year.

• Javi Martínez has not played since 29 October because of a thigh injury and, along with Robben and Vidal (fitness), was left out of the squad for the game in Dortmund.

• Manuel Neuer and Lewandowski are on the 23-man shortlist for the Best FIFA Men's Player 2016 award, the winner of which is announced on 9 January.