Malmö have tough task in Madrid to finish third

Real Madrid CF conclude another group-winning campaign with a home game against Malmö FF, who are still in contention to qualify for the UEFA Europa League.

• On 30 September, in Madrid's first European encounter with Swedish opposition, two historic Cristiano Ronaldo goals continued their strong start to the campaign. With the first in his side's 2-0 away win he reached 500 goals for club and country; the second meant he drew level with Raúl González in the Madrid scoring charts.

Match background

Madrid
• The Merengues first saw off FC Shakhtar Donetsk 4-0 at home and in the double header with Paris Saint-Germain, they drew 0-0 in France before a 1-0 home success. A 4-3 matchday five win at Shakhtar put them on 13 points and clinched first place in the group for the sixth time in the last seven seasons.

• The ten-time winners won all three group home games in the past two campaigns – scoring ten goals each time – but their 11-game winning home streak in the competition ended when they went down 4-3 against FC Schalke 04 at the Santiago Bernabéu in last season's round of 16 second leg.

• That defeat also curtailed the Blancos' ten-match winning sequence in the tournament, home and away. It was their first defeat in 22 UEFA Champions League games at the Santiago Bernabéu, with 19 of those games won; they subsequently recorded a win and a draw at home last season as their campaign ended in the semi-finals.

Malmö
• In their second successive season in the competition having made their debut in 2014/15, Malmö lost both opening fixtures, starting off with a 2-0 defeat in Paris before that Madrid reverse. They beat Shakhtar 1-0 at home but lost 4-0 away and suffered a 5-0 home loss to Paris last time out.

• The Himmelsblått lost 3-2 at Celtic FC in the play-offs and 2-0 at FC Salzburg in the third qualifying round, turning each tie round at home. In the second qualifying round a 1-0 second-leg win at VMFD Žalgiris was enough for them to advance after a 0-0 home draw.

• Malmö, European Cup runners-up in 1979, have finished fourth on the two previous occasions they reached a UEFA competition group stage. In last season's Group A they lost all three away games, their only points coming via a 2-0 win against Olympiacos FC in their first home game. In the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League they finished bottom after one draw and five defeats.

• Malmö's only other assignments with Spanish opponents were against Atlético Madrid; they lost home and away in last season's group stage, and in the 1966/67 European Champion Clubs' Cup first round. Luis Aragonés scored in both legs as Atlético won 2-0 away and 3-1 at home.

• Shakhtar are also on three points but lead Malmö on head-to-head so if they win in Paris – or match the Swedish side's points tally - the Ukrainian team will finish third.

Coach and player links
• Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice past Johan Wiland in Madrid's 4-0 home win over FC København on matchday two in 2013/14. Both he and Luka Modrić beat the goalkeeper in a 2-0 away win.

• Markus Rosenberg spent the 2010/11 season at Real Racing Club, on loan from SV Werder Bremen, and finished top scorer with nine goals, one coming in a 6–1 defeat at Madrid.

• Rosenberg also scored in Bremen's 3-2 home win over Madrid in the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League group stage. 

• A youth player at FC Bayern München, Oscar Lewicki trained with the first team who included Toni Kroos.

• Sergio Ramos scored for Spain against Rosenberg's Sweden in a UEFA EURO 2008 qualifier at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu on 17 November 2007. Malmö sporting director Daniel Andersson was also in the lineup.

• Raphaël Varane scored the winner in France's 1-0 friendly win over Sweden at Stade Vélodrome on 18 November 2014.

• As Helsingborg coach Åge Hareide lost twice to Levante UD (0-1a, 1-3h) in the 2012/13 UEFA Europa League group stage, while with Rosenborg BK in 2003/04 he suffered a UEFA Champions League third qualifying round defeat by RC Deportivo La Coruña (0-0 h, 0-1 a)

• Guillermo Molins played in the Spanish league for Real Betis Balompié, on loan from RSC Anderlecht, in 2013.

• Jo Inge Berget, Magnus Wolff Eikrem and Martin Ødegaard are Norway team-mates.

Match facts

Madrid
• Casemiro will incur a suspension with his next booking.

• Madrid have won their last four matches since losing 4-0 to FC Barcelona on 21 November, most recently beating Getafe CF 4-1 on 5 December.

• Gareth Bale's goal in the 2-0 success at SD Eibar on 29 November was his first for the Whites in exactly three months; he made it two in as many games by scoring against Getafe.

• Cristiano Ronaldo's goal against Getafe was his tenth in the Liga this season; Karim Benzema's double in the same game took his league tally to eight for 2015/16.

• Madrid were removed from the Copa del Rey on 4 December after fielding an ineligible player in the fourth round first leg against Cádiz CF two days earlier. The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) announced Cádiz will advance instead.

Malmö
• Rasmus Bengtsson and Markus Rosenberg are both banned after collecting their third bookings of the group stage on matchday five. Kári Árnason is available after a one-match suspension.

• Enoch Kofi Adu, Simon Kroon and Erdal Rakip scored as Malmö recovered from a goal down to defeat UEFA Europa League contenders Molde FK 3-1 in a friendly on 3 December.

• Wiland was carried off against Molde after colliding with team-mate Árnason. He remained in Sweden with concussion while the rest of the squad travelled to Malaga to prepare for the Madrid game. 

• This match will be Hareide's last in charge of Malmö. On 2 December, the Norwegian, who led the Sky Blues to the 2014 Allsvenskan title, announced that he will leave the club at the end of the month.

• Malmö concluded their Allsvenskan campaign on 31 October with a 2-0 loss to newly-crowned champions IFK Norrköping. Hareide's men finished fifth, 12 points off the top.

• Anton Tinnerholm and uncapped Pa Konate have been called up by Sweden coach Erik Hamrén for two January friendlies in Abu Dhabi.

• Franz Brorsson, 19, who made his UEFA Champions League group stage debut on matchday five, signed a three-year contract on 2 December.