Valencia duo to reprise memories

Rosenborg BK and Valencia CF ended the last round of Group B fixtures on the losing side and will be anxious not to concede any more ground on Matchday 3. It is shaping up as a closely-contested section with just a single point separating the leading three sides.

• Rosenborg are regular participants in the UEFA Champions League and have had several group stage contests with opponents from Spain. The first two home games were memorable affairs with victories against Real Madrid CF and Athletic Club Bilbao. With a 1-0 win against RC Deportivo La Coruña preceding them in the 1994/95 UEFA Cup first round, it meant Rosenborg achieved a 100 per cent home record against their first three Spanish visitors.

• The win over Madrid in the 1997/98 season was one of their finest, a 2-0 triumph coming courtesy of goals from the irrepressible Roar Strand and Harald Brattbakk. Their opponents then went on to lift the trophy that same season.

• Rosenborg were unable to maintain their good start against Spanish teams and as they prepare to welcome visitors from that country for the eighth time they will be hoping to end a sequence of results that have gone against them. Of the last four games at the Lerkendal Stadium, Spanish sides have won three with the other drawn. Rosenborg have not scored in the last two games, both in the UEFA Champions League, losing 2-0 to Madrid in the 2005/06 group stage and drawing 0-0 with Deportivo in the 2003/04 third qualifying round.

• Having drawn 1-1 away to Chelsea FC on Matchday 1 after Miika Koppinen had put the visitors ahead before half-time, Knut Tørum's team had high hopes for their first home game in the group. However FC Schalke 04 put paid to that with two second-half goals securing a 2-0 victory.

• Valencia have never faced a Norwegian team in UEFA competition but a matchup with Rosenborg will rekindle happy memories for striker Fernando Morientes who scored in Madrid's 4-1 home win against them in the 1997/98 campaign.

• Iván Helguera has also played against these opponents for Madrid in the UEFA Champions League, scoring in the 4-1 home victory in the 2005/06 group stage.

• Quique Sánchez Flores' team got off to a flying start in their sixth participation in Europe's premier club competition with a 1-0 win away to Schalke achieved through David Villa's second-half strike. Matchday 2 offered them the opportunity to take a firm grip on the section but having enjoyed an early advantage, with Villa again on target, they found themselves overpowered by a spirited Chelsea comeback. An own goal by defender Emiliano Moretti preceded Didier Drogba's winner.