Madrid plot repeat feat for Lyon visit

The third round of UEFA Champions League fixtures brings together the two sides who have made the best start to the campaign in Group D and who know each other very well having met in each of the past two seasons. The teams have been paired together in four of the past six campaigns.

• Real Madrid CF beat Olympique Lyonnais 4-1 on aggregate in the round of 16 in 2010/11 but the previous year it was the French side who had the upper hand.

• This time round the Spanish giants have maximum points having started with a 1-0 victory at GNK Dinamo Zagreb thanks to Ángel Di María's 53rd-minute strike.

• Two weeks later a potent attacking performance saw off the challenge of AFC Ajax, a 3-0 victory coming courtesy of goals from Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaká and Karim Benzema.

• Lyon gained a goalless draw in Amsterdam against AFC Ajax before first-half goals from Bafétimbi Gomis and Bakary Koné at home to Dinamo earned Rémi Garde a first group stage victory as Lyon coach.

Previous meetings
• When the teams met earlier this year in Madrid, goals from Marcelo, Benzema and Di María gave the hosts an emphatic 3-0 second-leg victory after the first match had ended 1-1. In France Benzema, the former Lyon striker, gave his team the lead 60 seconds after coming on as a substitute, Gomis levelling seven minutes from time.

• The lineups at Santiago Bernabéu on 16 March 2011 were:
Madrid: Casillas, Ramos, Carvalho, Pepe, Marcelo, Alonso, Khedira, Di María (Granero 78), Özil, Ronaldo (Adebayor 74), Benzema (L Diarra 84).
Lyon: Lloris, Cris, Lovren, Réveillère, Cissokho, Källström, Toulalan, Gourcuff (Pied 69), Briand (Gomis 46), López, Delgado (Pjanić 80).

• That game was the first time Madrid had got the better of Lyon, their three previous home games all ending in draws. When the teams met at the same stage 12 months previously, Jean Makoun gave the French side the edge after their home leg. A 1-1 draw in the return took Lyon through, Miralem Pjanić cancelling out Ronaldo's early opener.

• The sides also played in the group stage in 2005/06 and 2006/07, Lyon winning both home games and drawing twice in Spain.

Match background
• The Merengues ended a run of six successive last-16 eliminations when they reached last season's semi-finals, where they lost 3-1 on aggregate to FC Barcelona. In their 15 UEFA Champions League participations they have never failed to reach the knockout rounds.

• Progress to the round of 16 last season maintained a pattern for Lyon who have made it through to the knockout stage in each of the past eight campaigns.

Team ties
• As FC Porto coach in 2003/04, José Mourinho oversaw a 4-2 aggregate win against Lyon in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals with a team including Ricardo Carvalho. Mourinho's side had beaten Olympique de Marseille in the group stage and then won the final 3-0 against AS Monaco FC. Overall Mourinho has won eight and lost only one of 11 meetings with French opposition.

• This tie pits Benzema against his old club for the third time since his switch to Madrid in 2009. Ligue 1's top scorer in 2007/08 with 20 goals, Benzema made 112 league appearances and scored 43 times in five seasons for Lyon, winning four league titles.

• Kaká was in the AC Milan side that beat Lyon in the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, while Ronaldo scored the only goal when Manchester United FC beat Lyon at home in the last 16 in 2007/08 to confirm a 2-1 aggregate success.

• Sami Khedira was in the VfB Stuttgart team beaten home and away by Lyon in the 2007/08 group stage.

• Kim Källström was a substitute in Sweden's 2-1 Group D loss to the Spain of Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos and Raúl Albiol at UEFA EURO 2008.

• Raphaël Varane played against Lyon last season for RC Lens, losing 3-0 at Stade de Gerland on 10 April.

• Aly Cissokho faced Fábio Coentrão on two occasions in the 2008/09 season, firstly for Porto and then Vitória FC, while Coentrao was with SL Benfica. Both games ended in draws.