Lazio wary of Madrid marvels

Real Madrid CF come to Rome to take on S.S. Lazio on UEFA Champions League Matchday 2 still unbeaten at the Olimpico after their first four visits.

• Matchday 1 saw Real Madrid's 300th European Champion Clubs' Cup match which they marked with a 2-1 victory over Weder Bremen at Santiago Bernabéu. Meanwhile, Lazio picked up a point with a 1-1 draw in their opening Group C game at Olympiacos CFP.

• The two sides have met twice in European club competition after being drawn together in the second group stage of the 2000/01 UEFA Champions League. Lazio lost 3-2 in Madrid before drawing 2-2 in Rome.

• Lazio have played 12 games against Spanish opposition in European competition, with the most memorable of them being a 2-1 win against RCD Mallorca in the last ever UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final at Villa Park in Birmingham in May 1999. Christian Vieri and Pavel Nedvěd scored their goals.

• The Rome side had beaten Club Atlético de Madrid 1-0 on aggregate in the previous season's UEFA Cup semi-final but lost 3-0 to FC Internazionale Milano at the Parc des Princes in Paris.

• In total, their record against Spanish sides reads won four, drawn three and lost five. In six home fixtures against Primera División opposition they have won two, drawn three and lost one.

• Madrid have played 51 games against Italian sides in European competitions, four of them European Champion Clubs' Cup finals. They beat ACF Fiorentina 2-0 in the 1956/57 final and AC Milan 3-2 the following year. They lost 3-1 to Inter in the 1964 showcase but then beat Juventus 1-0 in the 1998 final.

• Madrid have met Lazio's neighbours, AS Roma, six times in group stage games, winning four, drawing one and losing one. Their three games against Roma at Stadio Olimpico all ended in victories.

• Thus, Madrid are yet to lose a game at Stadio Olimpico.

• In total, their record against Italian sides reads won 26, drawn six, lost 19. In Italy, their record reads won four, drawn four, lost 16.

• In his playing days, Madrid coach Bernd Schüster did not have the best of luck against Italian sides. With Madrid, he was part of the side that drew 1-1 with Milan in the first leg of the 1988/89 European Champion Clubs' Cup semi-finals only to lose 5-0 in the return leg in Italy.

• Following a move to Club Atlético de Madrid, his side was drawn against Parma AC - now Parma FC - in the 1992/93 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup semi-final Schüster's side lost 2-1 at home in the first leg, bowing out on away goals despite a 1-0 win in the return fixture.

• Lazio coach Delio Rossi is in his first season in European competition as a player or a manager.

• The majority of the Lazio squad will have come up against veteran Madrid defender Fabio Cannavaro during the 34-year-old's long spell in Serie A prior to leaving for Spain in 2006. However, no Lazio players ever played alongside him at any of his former clubs.

• The only pair of former team-mates involved in the game are Lazio's Lionel Scaloni and Madrid's Gabriel Heinze whose paths crossed at Argentinian side CA Newell's Old Boys in the mid-1990s.

• Madrid are at home against Olympiacos on Matchday 3 while on the same evening, 24 October, Lazio travel to face Bremen.