Qualified Monaco and Leverkusen look to next stage

Both AS Monaco FC and Bayer 04 Leverkusen are safe in the knowledge that they are guaranteed first and second place respectively in Group F so they can approach their matchday six encounter relatively free of pressure.

• On matchday two the German team were leading 1-0 in France through Javier Hernández's strike before Kamil Glik saved a point for Monaco with a 94th-minute equaliser.

• Monaco secured first place with a 2-1 home win against Tottenham Hotspur FC on matchday five, while Leverkusen drew 1-1 at CSKA Moskva.

Previous meetings
• Monaco are unbeaten in five previous matches against Leverkusen (W3 D2).

• They earned 1-0 home and away victories over Leverkusen in the 2014/15 UEFA Champions League group stage, when both teams qualified for the knockout stage. Lucas Ocampo scored the winner at the BayArena and João Moutinho made the difference at the Stade Louis II.

• The line-ups in Germany on 26 November 2014 were:
Leverkusen: Leno, Donati, Toprak, Spahić, Bender (Rolfes 76), Castro, Bellarabi (Brandt 77), Çalhanoğlu, Wendell, Son (Drmić 59), Kiessling.
Monaco: Subašić, Abdennour, Carvalho, Raggi, Bakayoko, Dirar (Fabinho 83), Toulalan, Moutinho, Carrasco (Ocampos 70), Elderson, Berbatov (Traoré 90).

• The clubs first met in the 1997/98 group stage and ended level on points at the top of their section. Monaco won the head-to-head duel, winning 4-0 at home – Thierry Henry and Victor Ikpeba both scoring twice – and coming from two goals down to draw 2-2 away, with Henry hitting the equaliser.

Match background

Leverkusen
• Third in last season's Bundesliga, Leverkusen conceded a 2-0 lead at home to CSKA on matchday one and had to settle for a 2-2 draw. On matchday three they drew 0-0 with Tottenham at home and won 1-0 away in the return.

• Roger Schmidt's men were eliminated in the group stage last term and went on to reach the UEFA Europa League round of 16 before losing 2-0 on aggregate to Villarreal CF.

• Leverkusen are unbeaten at home in UEFA competition since that 2014 defeat by Monaco. Their European record at the BayArena since then is P9 W4 D5.

• That reverse was one of three victories inflicted on Leverkusen by French visitors. The Germans have won four of the eight encounters with the other one drawn. Overall their record against Ligue 1 opposition is W5 D4 L7.

• Their last encounter with French opposition before this season brought a 6-1 aggregate defeat by Paris Saint-Germain in the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League round of 16 (0-4 home, 1-2 away).

Monaco
• The French side got their seventh group stage campaign off to a great start with a 2-1 win at Tottenham. In the double-header with CSKA they drew 1-1 away and then won 3-0 at home.

• They are unbeaten on their last five visits to Germany (W3 D2).   

• Monaco, returning to the UEFA Champions League after a season's absence, came through two qualifying rounds to reach the group stage, beating Fenerbahçe SK (4-3 on aggregate) and Villarreal CF (3-1 agg).

• On their last group stage participation, in 2014/15, they reached the quarter-finals, going out to eventual runners-up Juventus 1-0 on aggregate. Apart from the game at Leverkusen they also won at Arsenal FC, drawing at FC Zenit and losing at SL Benfica and Juventus.

• Monaco lost the 1992 European Cup Winners' Cup final 2-0 against SV Werder Bremen in Lisbon.

Coach and player links
• As coach of Olympiacos FC, Leonardo Jardim lost home (1-2) and away (0-1) against FC Schalke 04 in the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Admir Mehmedi scored for Switzerland in a 2-0 win over Moutinho's Portugal in their opening 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier on 6 September.

• Mehmedi was on the losing Swiss side against Kamil Glik's Poland in the UEFA EURO 2016 round of 16, with Glik converting a penalty in the deciding shoot-out.

• Other players who met at UEFA EURO 2016 were:
Danijel Subašić & Hakan Çalhanoğlu (Croatia 1-0 Turkey)
João Moutinho & Julian Baumgartlinger (Portugal 0-0 Austria)

• Morgan De Sanctis played at Leverkusen for Udinese Calcio in a 2-1 win in the 1999/2000 UEFA Cup third round, albeit losing the tie on away goals (2-2 agg). He was on the AS Roma bench for last season's group fixtures against Leverkusen (4-4 away, 3-2 home).

• Radamel Falcao scored in both away (3-1) and home (1-1) games for FC Porto against Roberto Hilbert's Beşiktaş JK in the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League.

• Javier Hernández scored in Mexico's 2-0 victory over France at the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

• Have played together:
Morgan De Sanctis & Tin Jedvaj (AS Roma, 2013/14)
Danijel Subašić & Tin Jedvaj (Croatia)

Match facts

Leverkusen
• Benjamin Henrichs is a booking away from a ban.

• Leverkusen are four games without a win.

• Kevin Volland (thigh) and Mehmedi (adductor) were ruled out for eight and three weeks respectively after suffering injuries in training in late November.

• Lars Bender (heel) has not played since 29 October.

• Joel Pohjanpalo (out since 28 September, broken metatarsal) returned to action in Saturday's 1-1 draw with SC Freiburg, while Vladlen Yurchenko (beginning of September, broken fibula) has resumed full training.

• Karim Bellarabi will be sidelined for the rest of the year having undergone surgery on his right groin in September.

Monaco
• Jemerson and Kamil Glik will incur a suspension with their next booking.

• Monaco are ten games undefeated in all competitions.

• The 1-1 draw against Dijon FCO on 29 November ended the principality side's run of five successive victories.

• Monaco have scored six goals or more in a match on three occasions this season, most recently against AS Nancy Lorraine (6-0) on 5 November.

• Six of Fabinho's seven goals this term have been penalties – all eight of his goals in 2015/16 were spot kicks.

Chapecoense commemoration
Teams taking part in all of the matchday six UEFA Champions League and UEFA Europa League matches will observe a minute's silence to pay respect to the victims of last week's air disaster involving the Chapecoense team and accompanying delegation. The Brazilian club lost most of their players and coaching staff in the accident, which occurred in Colombia, where Chapecoense were due to play the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana final against Atlético Nacional.

"European football is united in expressing its deepest sympathy to Chapecoense, the Brazilian Football Confederation [CBF], CONMEBOL and the families of all the victims," said UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin. "This tragedy has shaken the world of football, and we would like to send our support to all of those affected by it."