Lazio's mission improbable in Madrid

S.S. Lazio travel to Spain on what can fairly be described as a mission improbable: namely to take three points off a Real Madrid CF side beaten only once in their last 24 home games in the UEFA Champions League.

• Delio Rossi's side must beat Madrid by at least two goals at the Santiago Bernabéu to be certain of climbing off the foot of Group C and earning a place in the knockout stage. If their margin of victory is just a single goal, they also have to hope Werder Bremen do not win at Olympiacos CFP. Their task is stiffened further by the fact the Spanish champions have not yet secured their own place in the last 16.

• Madrid may be top of the group but only three points separate themselves from Lazio. A win or a draw would assure the Merengues' progress but a defeat by two goals or more would eliminate them, spelling their absence from the last 16 for the first time since the 1996/97 season – the last campaign in which they did not feature in the UEFA Champions League.

• While three points would tie up first place for Madrid, a draw would suffice only if second-placed Olympiacos – who also have eight points – failed to beat Bremen in the group's other match.

• Madrid suffered a setback on Matchday 5 when, despite both Robinho and Ruud van Nistelrooy finding the net, they went down 3-2 at Bremen.

• It was the Spanish club's first defeat in this season's competition. After beating Bremen 2-1 on Matchday 1, they drew 2-2 at Lazio on 3 October, Goran Pandev twice cancelling out Van Nistelrooy strikes. Madrid followed that result with a double-header against Olympiacos which brought a 4-2 home win and a goalless away draw.

• Lazio's hopes received a severe blow last time out when they lost 2-1 at home to Olympiacos. Pandev opened the scoring but goals from Luciano Galletti and Biancocelesti old boy Darko Kovačević turned the tables on Delio Rossi's team.

• Lazio opened their campaign with draws against Olympiacos (1-1) and Madrid (2-2) but then lost 2-1 at Bremen. They revived their hopes by beating the German side 2-1 on Matchday 4 through two Tommaso Rocchi goals.

• Madrid's only reverse in their last 24 UEFA Champions League fixtures at the Santiago Bernabéu was a 1-0 loss against Arsenal FC in the first knockout round in February 2006. The other games during this sequence have yielded 18 wins and five draws.

• Lazio last reached the latter stages of the UEFA Champions League in the 2000/01 season when they progressed to the second group stage.

• The Serie A team have won only one of their last ten UEFA Champions League group stage games and their most recent away victory in the competition, qualifying rounds apart, was on 16 September 2003 when goals from Jaap Stam and Stefano Fiore secured a 2-0 success at Beşiktaş JK.

• The clubs' only previous meetings took place in the second group stage in 2000/01. Luís Figo's 89th-minute penalty gave the Spanish team a 3-2 home win on 13 February 2001 in a match that featured Iker Casillas, Míchel Salgado, Guti and Raúl González from the current Madrid roster, and Lazio's Roberto Baronio.

• The teams met again in Rome eight days later with Raúl's 73rd-minute equaliser rescuing a 2-2 draw for Madrid.

• Overall Madrid have an impressive home record against Italian visitors: P23 W18 D2 L3.

• Lazio have played 13 games against Spanish opposition, including a 2-1 win against RCD Mallorca in the last UEFA Cup Winners' Cup final in Birmingham in May 1999.

• Lazio's five previous visits to Spain produced one win and four defeats. That solitary success was in the Spanish capital where they beat Club Atlético de Madrid 1-0 in the first leg of the 1997/98 UEFA Cup semi-final – the only goal over 120 minutes.

• Madrid have faced Italian opposition in four European Champion Clubs' Cup finals. They beat ACF Fiorentina 2-0 in 1956/57 and AC Milan 3-2 the following year. They lost 3-1 to FC Internazionale Milano in the 1964 showcase but then beat Juventus 1-0 in 1998.

• In his playing days, Madrid coach Bernd Schüster did not have the best of luck against Italian sides. He was part of the Madrid team held 1-1 by Milan in the first leg of the 1988/89 European Cup semi-finals – and then beaten 5-0 in the return in Italy.

• Following a move to Atlético Madrid, Schuster tasted defeat against Parma AC – now Parma FC – in the 1992/93 Cup Winners' Cup semi-final. Atlético lost 2-1 at home in the first leg, bowing out on away goals despite a 1-0 win in the return.

• Madrid's Gabriel Heinze and Lazio's Lionel Scaloni were colleagues at Argentinian side CA Newell's Old Boys in the mid-1990s.