Bayern out to bring down Bordeaux

Having dropped to third place in Group A as a result of their Matchday 3 defeat at FC Girondins de Bordeaux, FC Bayern München are hoping to get their UEFA Champions League campaign back on course when the French champions and section leaders visit Bavaria.

• The sides' first meeting could hardly have begun better for Bayern, who took a sixth-minute lead thanks to Michaël Ciani's own goal, yet the same player levelled in the 27th minute and Bayern then lost Thomas Müller to a second yellow card three minutes later. Marc Planus put Bordeaux in front in the 40th minute, and the hosts could even afford the luxury of Hans-Jörg Butt saving second-half penalties from Yoann Gourcuff and Jussiê, Bayern finishing with nine men as Daniel Van Buyten was dismissed after conceding the second spot-kick.

Previous meetings
• Prior to Matchday 3 the teams' only previous encounter came in the 1995/96 UEFA Cup final. Bordeaux's campaign had started out in the UEFA Intertoto Cup but their epic journey had no happy ending as Bayern ran out convincing winners.

• The Bavarian side won the first leg in Germany 2-0 on 1 May 1996, Thomas Helmer and Mehmet Scholl getting the goals.

• They prevailed 3-1 in the return a fortnight later. Goals from Scholl and Emil Kostadinov killed off the contest and although Daniel Dutuel pulled one back, Jürgen Klinsmann sealed a 5-1 aggregate victory for the German side.

• The victorious Bayern coach was Franz Beckenbauer, now chairman of the club's supervisory board while at the Bordeaux helm was former Bayern player Gernot Rohr.

• Frenchman Jean-Pierre Papin appeared for Bayern in the first leg and subsequently signed for Bordeaux, spending the following two seasons at the Stade Chaban-Delmas. Bordeaux's team included Bixente Lizarazu, a future Bayern player and UEFA Champions League winner with the Bundesliga outfit in 2000/01.

Match background
• Bayern are unbeaten in eight home games in UEFA club competition, although five of those matches were drawn, including their Matchday 2 stalemate with Juventus.

• Bayern's most recent home meeting with Ligue 1 visitors was last season's 1-1 group-stage draw with Olympique Lyonnais, when Zé Roberto equalised a first-half own goal by Martín Demichelis.

• Bayern won their third European Champion Clubs' Cup title at the expense of French opposition when they defeated AS Saint-Etienne 1-0 in Glasgow in May 1976.

• Bordeaux earned a 0-0 draw at Werder Bremen on their most recent visit to Germany to seal a 4-1 aggregate success in the 2000/01 UEFA Cup third round. Ulrich Ramé is the only survivor of that Bordeaux outfit.

• Bordeaux suffered three defeats in four matches on their travels in Europe last term but picked up a 1-1 draw at Juventus in their opening away game in Group A.

Team ties
• Bordeaux coach Laurent Blanc played against Bayern in the UEFA Champions League for Manchester United FC, drawing home (0-0) and away (1-1) in the 2001/02 second group stage.

• In that same campaign, Blanc suffered the disappointment of a semi-final defeat in Germany as United lost on away goals to Bayer 04 Leverkusen.

• Blanc enjoyed UEFA Cup victories against Werder Bremen (1998/99 second round) and Hertha BSC Berlin (2000/01 third round) with Olympique de Marseille and FC Internazionale Milano respectively.

• Bayern coach Louis van Gaal faced AJ Auxerre in the 1996/97 UEFA Champions League group stage while at AFC Ajax. He had mixed fortunes, overseeing a 1-0 win in France and a 2-1 home defeat.

• Bordeaux midfielder Alou Diarra spent two seasons at Bayern from 2000 to 2002. He turned out alongside Philipp Lahm, Christian Lell, Michael Rensing and Bastian Schweinsteiger for the reserves but did not play for the first team before moving on to Liverpool FC.

• Diarra played alongside Franck Ribéry as France lost the 2006 FIFA World Cup final to an Italy side featuring Bayern striker Luca Toni.

• Ribéry was a team-mate of Bordeaux's Cédric Carasso for two seasons at Marseille from 2005 to 2007. Ribéry failed to score in five appearances against Bordeaux.

• Bordeaux's Gourcuff featured as a substitute in both legs of AC Milan's 2006/07 UEFA Champions League quarter-final victory against Bayern.

• In October 2007, Bordeaux's Jaroslav Plašil scored in a 3-0 win against Germany at the Fußball Arena München that secured the Czech Republic's qualification for UEFA EURO 2008™. Bayern's Schweinsteiger and Mario Gómez appeared for the hosts.

• Bordeaux defender Diego Placente spent four and a half years with Leverkusen before leaving in 2005. In nine league and cup games against Bayern he tasted victory once, losing six.

• Bayern's Van Buyten spent two and a half seasons in France with Olympique de Marseille from 2001. He scored in Marseille's 3-1 defeat at Bordeaux in February 2003.

• Bayern's Arjen Robben struck his first ever UEFA Champions League goal for PSV Eindhoven against French side Auxerre in a 3-0 home win on 30 October 2002. He also scored in the Netherlands' 4-1 defeat of France in the group stage at UEFA EURO 2008™.