Steaua under pressure as Bayern return

Two Romanian sides take part in this season's UEFA Champions League group stage for the first time and FC Steaua Bucureşti, the only previous representatives from that country, will be determined not to be outshone by newcomers CFR 1907 Cluj. A home game with FC Bayern München is a tough way for Marius Lăcătuş' team to start.

• This is the third season in a row that the Bucharest club have taken their place on Europe's grandest stage – matching their achievement between 1994/95 and 1996/97 – and their first aim in Group F will be to do better than finish third. That has been their concluding position in three of their five campaigns; in the others they finished fourth.

• With CFR Cluj taking Romania's automatic qualifying berth after a first league title triumph in their 101-year history in 2007/08, Steaua were again forced to take the qualifying route into the UEFA Champions League. After a 2-2 draw away to Galatasaray AŞ they booked their place thanks to Bănel Nicoliţă's 57th-minute goal in the return. Remarkably, it was the third successive time they had got through the third qualifying round with a win in Bucharest after a 2-2 scoreline in the away leg, having overcome R. Standard de Liège 4-3 on aggregate in 2006/07 and FC BATE Borisov 4-2 a year later. This time around, Dairo Moreno and Nicoliţă gave Steaua a significant opening-leg advantage with two goals inside the first 13 minutes in Istanbul.

• Last season, the 1986 European champions began their group-stage campaign with a 2-1 away defeat by SK Slavia Praha and followed that with a home reverse against Arsenal FC. Steaua lost five of their six fixtures and, with just a single point, finished bottom of Group H.

• In 30 group matches over five campaigns, the Bucharest club have amassed just four wins – and ten draws – and only two of those victories have come at home. Both were by 1-0 margins, against Rangers FC in 1995/96 and Widzew Lódz the following season.

• Four previous fixtures with German visitors in European competition have yielded only one home victory for Steaua. That came in the first round of the 1957/58 European Champion Clubs' Cup when BV Borussia Dortmund were dispatched 3-1. They have met Bayern once before, drawing 1-1 at home and 0-0 away in the 1971/72 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup quarter-final to bow out on away goals.

• When Bayern missed out on last year's tournament, it broke a run of ten successive campaigns. During that sequence, they lifted the trophy in 2001 and finished as runners-up two years earlier.

• Bayern took the 2007/08 Bundesliga title with a ten-point advantage over second-placed Werder Bremen, earning themselves a ticket into the UEFA Champions League group stage under new coach Jürgen Klinsmann. The Bavarian club enjoyed four successive qualifications into the knockout rounds between 2003/04 and 2006/07 and will be looking to reproduce that form again.

• Their Romanian opponents will be cautious going into this game because Bayern have hit the ground running in their last three campaigns. In 2006/07, they won their first three fixtures and did not concede a goal in their first four. Although their last three games were all drawn, they had done enough to finish with a two-point advantage over FC Internazionale Milano at the head of the group.

• The previous season, Bayern also opened with three successive victories. In 2004/05, they won their first two games without conceding a goal.

• Bayern have not met Romanian opponents in a competitive game since the 1981/82 European Champion Clubs' Cup when they overcame quarter-final opponents FC Universitatea Craiova, winning 2-0 away and drawing 1-1 in Germany. They reached the final but their dream of securing a fourth title triumph foundered as Aston Villa FC beat them.

• At UEFA EURO 2008™, Willy Sagnol and Franck Ribéry played for France against a Romania side featuring Mirel Rădoi, Dorin Goian and Nicoliţă. The Steaua trio then played against an Italy team whose attack was led by Luca Toni.

• The other opening Group F game is between Olympique Lyonnais and ACF Fiorentina.