Chelsea keen to avoid more Spain pain

After exiting last season's UEFA Champions League at the hands of FC Barcelona at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea FC will hope to fare much better when another Liga side, Club Atlético de Madrid, visit west London on Matchday 3.

• Chelsea are looking for a third successive win in Group D, while Atlético will be keen to kick-start their campaign after following a goalless draw at home to APOEL FC with a 2-0 loss at FC Porto.

Match background
• The teams have never previously met in a competitive fixture but Chelsea will be encouraged by the fact that only once in eleven games have they lost at home to Spanish visitors.

• That came in the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League Round of 16 when FC Barcelona won 2-1. Last season a 1-1 draw between the same sides in the English capital proved enough for the visitors to advance to the final on away goals, Andrés Iniesta hitting the all-important equaliser in the third minute of added time.

• That was the third in a succession of draws Chelsea have recorded at home to Spanish sides. Valencia CF were their opponents on the other two occasions, with a 0-0 stalemate in the 2007/08 group stage and a 1-1 draw in the previous season's quarter-finals.

• Atlético have only once tasted victory away against English opposition, defeating Leicester City FC 2-0 in the 1997/98 UEFA Cup first round.

• With four draws in their eight visits, however, Atlético will not travel fearing the worst. Their last three games against English clubs – home and away – have ended all-square and it took a Steven Gerrard penalty five minutes into added time at Anfield to rescue a point for Liverpool FC eleven months ago after Maxi Rodríguez had put Atlético ahead.

• Chelsea's narrow victory over Porto on Matchday 1 extended their unbeaten run at home in the competition to 19 games, since that Barcelona triumph in February 2006.

• Atlético's Matchday 2 setback at Porto was their first away loss in the UEFA Champions League proper, the club having collected three wins and four draws from their seven previous outings.

Team ties
• Diego Forlán scored for Uruguay against a Brazil team featuring Alex in the 2007 Copa América semi-finals. However, Forlán missed his penalty during the subsequent shoot-out, which Brazil won 5-4.

• Rodríguez played for Argentina in a friendly against England in Geneva in November 2005. John Terry and Frank Lampard lined up on the other side and Joe Cole appeared as a second-half substitute.

• Joe Cole scored England's winner in a friendly against Uruguay at Anfield in March 2006. Terry also featured while Forlán was in the visitors' lineup.

• Paulo Assunção played for Porto against Chelsea in both legs of the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League first knockout round.

• Pablo Ibáñez made his Spain debut against England in a friendly in Madrid in November 2004. Ashley Cole, Terry and Lampard all featured for the visitors and José Antonio Reyes for Spain.

• Reyes scored for Arsenal FC against Chelsea in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final at Highbury in April 2004, but Lampard equalised and Chelsea eventually went through 3-2 on aggregate.

• Petr Čech and Tomáš Ujfaluši are team-mates for the Czech Republic.

• Simão, Ricardo Carvalho, Deco and José Bosingwa are all team-mates for Portugal.