Revived Roma aiming to follow Bayern's lead

AS Roma welcome FC Bayern München to the Stadio Olimpico hoping to follow their opponents' path to the knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League.

• Bayern made sure of qualification from Group E by beating CFR 1907 Cluj on Matchday 4, and Roma will join them in the last 16 if they beat Louis van Gaal's visitors and the game between CFR and FC Basel 1893 ends in a draw.

• Roma revived their ambitions by winning 3-2 at Basel last time out and hold a three-point lead in second place as they aim to reach the last 16 for the fourth time in five seasons.

Previous meetings
• Bayern's 2-0 win against Roma on Matchday 1 was their third in as many meetings with the Giallorossi. When the teams met in the 1984/85 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals, Bayern won 2-0 in Munich through goals from Klaus Augenthaler (44) and Dieter Hoeness (77). The Bavarian side then prevailed in Rome, Ludwig Kögl getting an 81st-minute winner within 60 seconds of Sebastiano Nela equalising Lothar Matthäus's opener (33).

Match background
• Roma's last home appearance was a 3-1 defeat by Basel on 19 October which ended a run of nine wins in ten home matches in UEFA competition.

• Roma's most recent home encounter with Bundesliga opposition was a 1-1 draw against Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the 2004/05 UEFA Champions League group stage. Philippe Mèxes and Francesco Totti were in the team that salvaged a point via Vincenzo Montella's added-time goal.

• Their overall home record against Bundesliga teams is W6 D1 L3.

• Bayern have won their last three away matches in the UEFA Champions League having prevailed 3-0 at Olympique Lyonnais in last season's semi-final prior to victories at Basel (2-1) and CFR (4-0).

• Bayern visited Italy twice last term. They advanced from the group stage with a 4-1 win at Juventus on Matchday 6 via goals from goalkeeper Jörg Butt (penalty), Ivica Olić, Mario Gomez and Anatoliy Tymoshchuk. Van Gaal's men then lost 3-2 at ACF Fiorentina in the round of 16, advancing on away goals after a 2-1 first-leg win. Bayern twice trailed by two goals in Florence only for Mark van Bommel and then Arjen Robben to reel Fiorentina in.

• Their overall record in Italy is W4 D2 L8.

Team ties
• Van Gaal suffered defeat in the 1995/96 UEFA Champions League final at the Stadio Olimpico with AFC Ajax, losing on penalties to Juventus after a 1-1 draw. His Ajax side had beaten AC Milan 1-0 to win the trophy the previous year. He also guided Ajax to victory against Torino FC in the 1992 UEFA Cup final.

• Roma coach Claudio Ranieri and Van Gaal first faced each other in Spanish football. Between 1997 and 1999, when Ranieri was at Valencia CF and Van Gaal with FC Barcelona, both recorded successive away Liga victories.

• Ranieri got the better of Van Gaal in the 1998/99 Spanish Cup, Valencia winning both legs of their quarter-final contest. During Ranieri's spell at Club Atlético de Madrid in 1999/2000 he faced Van Gaal's Barcelona once more, losing at Camp Nou.

• Roma's Nicolás Burdisso played alongside Bayern's Martín Demichelis in the Argentina team beaten 4-0 in the FIFA World Cup quarter-finals by a Germany side featuring Bayern's Philipp Lahm, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Mirsolav Klose and Thomas Müller.

• Juan was in the Brazil team eliminated by Robben and Van Bommel's Netherlands at the quarter-final stage in South Africa.

• Daniele De Rossi, Simone Perrotta and Totti lined up against Frank Ribéry in the 2006 FIFA World Cup final. In the semi-final, Totti and Perrotta faced a Germany team including Lahm, Schweinsteiger and Klose.

• Juan played with Leverkusen from 2002 to 2007 and was a team-mate of Butt – the pair faced Roma together in the 2004/05 group stage. In that same season they lost to John Arne Riise's Liverpool FC in the last 16.

• Riise scored Liverpool's opening goal in a 3-2 victory against Bayern in the 2001 UEFA Super Cup.