History no bar to round of 16 progress
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
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UEFA.com checks the omens for the round of 16 second legs including mighty tasks for FC Basel 1893 and FC Schalke 04, and Chelsea FC's superiority against French visitors.
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TUESDAY 10 MARCH
FC Porto v FC Basel 1893 (first leg 1-1)
• Porto have won all bar two of the nine ties in UEFA competition when they have drawn the first leg away from home. Their defeats came at the hands of FC Bayern München in the 1990/91 European Champion Clubs' Cup quarter-finals, (1-1 away, 0-2 home) and Manchester United FC in the 2008/09 quarter-finals (2-2 away, 0-1 home).
• Basel have scored in just four of their 11 fixtures against Liga sides. Their record in Portugal reads W0 D3 L2.
Real Madrid CF v FC Schalke 04 (first leg 2-0)
• Madrid's 4-0 thrashing of PFC Ludogorets Razgrad on matchday six was their 11th straight home success in the UEFA Champions League, one fewer than the competition record set by Manchester United FC between 13 September 2006 and 29 April 2008. Furthermore, they are unbeaten in 18 UEFA Champions League matches at the Santiago Bernabéu – winning 16 – dating back to April 2011.
• Schalke have lost on all three visits to Madrid – including last season's 3-1 reverse at the Bernabéu – and are without a win in their last eight games in Spain (D4 L4) since a 3-0 victory at RCD Espanyol in the 2005/06 UEFA Cup round of 32.
WEDNESDAY 11 MARCH
Chelsea FC v Paris Saint-Germain (first leg 1-1)
• Chelsea have kept five clean sheets in six home matches against French teams. The sole exception was a 2-2 draw with AS Monaco FC in the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League semi-final second leg, prompting a 5-3 aggregate defeat.
• Paris have won seven of their last 15 UEFA Champions League away games, losing four.
FC Bayern München v FC Shakhtar Donetsk (first leg 0-0)
• Bayern have won all but two of the 19 UEFA ties in which they drew the first leg away from home, the anomalies being against Liverpool FC in the 1980/81 European Champion Clubs' Cup semi-finals (0-0 away, 1-1 home) and AC Milan in the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals (2-2 away, 0-2 home).
• Shakhtar's most recent success on German soil came at VfB Stuttgart in the 2005/06 UEFA Cup group stage, Fernandinho and Ciprian Marica earning a 2-0 victory in which Darijo Srna also featured. The Ukrainian side's record in Germany reads W2 D1 L4.
TUESDAY 17 MARCH
AS Monaco FC v Arsenal FC (first leg 3-1)
• Arsenal must do what no other club has managed in the UEFA Champions League era: win having gone into an away leg needing to score more than once to avoid elimination. The match on 25 February was the third year running Arsenal had lost the home first leg in the round of 16 by a two-goal margin.
• Teams have come back from a home first-leg reverse only twice in the UEFA Champions League, and both were beaten 1-0 first time out: AFC Ajax (v Panathinaikos FC, 1995/96 semi-finals, 3-0 second leg) and FC Internazionale Milano (v Bayern, 2010/11 round of 16, 3-2 away).
Club Atlético de Madrid v Bayer 04 Leverkusen (first leg 0-1)
• The first leg was Leverkusen's first round of 16 success at the seventh attempt. All six of their previous games ended in defeat, with the goal difference 5-22.
• Atlético have won 20 of their last 22 European fixtures at the Vicente Calderón. The sole negative result was a 2-0 setback against FC Rubin Kazan in the UEFA Europa League round of 32 in February 2013.
WEDNESDAY 18 MARCH
FC Barcelona v Manchester City FC (first leg 2-1)
• Barcelona have progressed 33 of the 35 times they won the away first leg in UEFA competition, most recently against City last term. Of those two failures, perhaps the more notable was a 4-2 triumph at FC Metz that preceded a 4-1 home defeat in the 1984/85 European Cup Winners' Cup first round.
• Aside from their 2013/14 2-0 reverse to Barcelona (4-1 on aggregate) and this season's tie, City have lost just one other home first leg in UEFA competition, 1-0 against FC Midtjylland in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup second qualifying round; they triumphed by the same scoreline in Denmark and went through 4-2 on penalties.
Borussia Dortmund v Juventus (first leg 1-2)
• Dortmund are unbeaten at home in the 2014/15 competition and have won ten of their last 13 UEFA Champions League home matches.
• Juventus had gone six away games in the UEFA Champions League without a victory – losing five of them – prior to their 2-0 success at Malmö FF on matchday five.