History hints at difficult night for Madrid in Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund go in search of a fourth straight home victory over Real Madrid CF when they host the reigning European champions on matchday two.

Previous meetings
• The clubs' record from five previous meetings on German soil is three wins for Dortmund, none for Madrid and two draws.

• They last met in the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, Madrid prevailing 3-2 on aggregate en route to lifting the trophy.

• Gareth Bale, Isco and Cristiano Ronaldo earned Carlo Ancelotti's Madrid a 3-0 first-leg lead before Dortmund, managed by Jürgen Klopp, narrowed the deficit with a 2-0 victory in Germany through two Marco Reus strikes.

• The line-ups for that second leg on 8 April 2014 were:
Dortmund: Weidenfeller, Piszczek (Aubameyang 81), Friedrich, Hummels, Durm, Kirch, Mkhitaryan, Jojić, Reus, Grosskreutz, Lewandowski.
Madrid: Casillas, Carvajal, Pepe, Ramos, Fábio Coentrão, Alonso, Illarramendi (Isco 46), Modrić, Di María (Casemiro 73), Bale, Benzema (Varane 90+1).

• The teams met in the group stage of the 2012/13 competition when Dortmund finished above Madrid with the help of a 2-1 home win – Robert Lewandowski and Marcel Schmelzer scoring either side of Ronaldo – and a 2-2 draw in Madrid where Pepe and Marco Reus featured on the scoresheet.

• The clubs were reunited in the semi-finals that season and Dortmund won the first leg 4-1 at home, Lewandowski getting all four goals and sending his side through despite a 2-0 reverse in Madrid where Karim Benzema and Sergio Ramos scored.

• The line-ups for the semi-final first leg at the BVB Stadion on 24 April 2013 were:
Dortmund: Weidenfeller, Piszczek (Grosskreutz 83), Subotić, Hummels, Schmelzer, Błaszczykowski (Kehl 82), Bender, Gündoğan (Schieber 90), Götze, Reus, Lewandowski.
Madrid: López, Pepe, Varane, Ramos, Fábio Coentrão, Alonso (Kaká 80), Khedira, Modrić (Di María 68), Ronaldo, Özil, Higuaín (Benzema 68).

• Roman Weidenfeller is the solitary survivor of the sides' meetings in the 2002/03 second group stage, when Madrid won 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu and then drew 1-1 in Dortmund. Zinédine Zidane played in both matches too.

• Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc and youth-team coordinator Lars Ricken played in Dortmund's 1997/98 UEFA Champions League semi-final loss to Madrid (0-2 a, 0-0 h).

Match background

Dortmund
• Dortmund began Group F with a 6-0 win at Legia Warszawa – their biggest away victory in UEFA competition.

• Dortmund averaged three goals a game at home in the 2015/16 UEFA Europa League. Their record was P8 W6 D1 L1 F24 A5.

• The Bundesliga side have won their last four home matches against Spanish visitors. Their overall record at home against Liga opposition is W7 D3 L2.

Madrid
• Madrid left it late to snatch three points from Sporting Clube de Portugal on matchday one, winning 2-1 through goals from Ronaldo (89) and Álvaro Morata (90+4)

• Their record on the road in last season's competition was W3 D2 L1. That solitary defeat was a 2-0 reverse at a VfL Wolfsburg team containing André Schürrle in the quarter-finals. Madrid recovered to beat the Bundesliga club 3-0 back at the Bernabéu.

• Madrid's overall record away to German sides is P29 W4 D6 L19.

Coach and player links
• Zidane was in the Juventus team defeated 3-1 by Dortmund in the 1996/97 UEFA Champions League final.

• Nuri Şahin spent 2011/12 with Madrid, making 12 appearances.

• Łukasz Piszczek's Poland suffered a UEFA EURO 2016 quarter-final defeat on penalties against Ronaldo and Pepe's Portugal.

• Nuri Şahin was in the Turkey team beaten 3-0 by the Spain of Sergio Ramos and the two-goal Morata in the UEFA EURO 2016 group stage.

• Schürrle and Toni Kroos each scored twice as Germany beat a Brazil side containing Marcelo 7-1 in the 2014 FIFA World Cup semi-finals.

• Kroos played 17 times against Dortmund for Leverkusen and Bayern, scoring one goal (W5 D3 L9).

• Marc Bartra's only outing for FC Barcelona against Madrid came in their 2-1 Copa del Rey final defeat in 2014.

• Mario Götze was in the FC Bayern München side beaten by Madrid in the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League semi-finals.

• As a Bayer 04 Leverkusen player in 2012/13, Carvajal lost home (2-3) and away (0-3) to Dortmund.

• International team-mates (non-Germany/Spain):
Raphaël Guerreiro & Cristiano Ronaldo & Pepe (Portugal)
Adrián Ramos & James Rodríguez (Colombia)
Ousmane Dembélé & Raphaël Varane (France)

Match facts

Dortmund
• Dortmund have scored 20 goals – distributed between 12 players – in their last four games.

• Thomas Tuchel's men followed up their 6-0 win at Legia with an identical victory at home to SV Darmstadt 98 on 17 September. They then prevailed 5-1 against a VfL Wolfsburg side that had hitherto not conceded a goal in the Bundesliga this season and on Friday overcame SC Freiburg 3-1.

• By beating Freiburg, Dortmund matched their club record of 24 home Bundesliga fixtures without defeat, set between January 1965 and April 1966 and equalled from November 2001 to March 2003.

• Sebastian Rode and Emre Mor registered their first Dortmund goals in the defeat of Darmstadt; Dembélé did likewise away to Wolfsburg, where Piszczek was on target for the first time in the Bundesliga since 3 May 2014.

• Bartra was substituted early on in Wolfsburg due to an adductor strain and missed the visit of Freiburg.

• Schürrle has sat out Dortmund's last four encounters with the knee injury he sustained in the 1-0 loss at RB Leipzig on 10 September.

• Sven Bender has not played for Dortmund this season due to the ankle injury he suffered at the Olympic Games, where he and Matthias Ginter won silver medals.

• Reus (adductors), Neven Subotić (ribs) and Erik Durm (knee) are long-term injury absentees.

Madrid
• Zidane's men are unbeaten in 19 in all competitions, dating back to their 2-0 loss at Wolfsburg in the first leg of the 2015/16 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.

• The Merengues twice surrendered the lead in drawing 2-2 away to UD Las Palmas on Saturday. Ronaldo was withdrawn with 18 minutes remaining.

• Villarreal CF denied Madrid what would have been a Liga record 17th consecutive victory when they drew 1-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu on 21 September.

• Ramos headed the equaliser against Villarreal, his second Liga goal of the campaign and third overall, equalling his tally from last term.