Anderlecht face up to Bayern challenge

RSC Anderlecht and FC Bayern München have contrasting ambitions on matchday five, with the home side looking to finally get on the board in Group B and Bayern bidding to keep alive their hopes of winning the section.

• Anderlecht were beaten 3-0 in Munich on matchday one and are still looking for their first goal and first point; they cannot finish in the top two. They must match or better the result of third-placed Celtic away to Paris Saint-Germain to retain their hopes of reaching the UEFA Europa League.

• Bayern are second on nine points, three behind leaders Paris. They will stay in contention to win the section if they match or better Paris's result against Celtic.

Previous meetings
• Bayern have won six of the teams' 11 meetings, although Anderlecht triumphed in the last before this season for their third victory overall. Goals from Akın Serhat (20) and Olexandr Yakovenko (35) secured a 2-1 success in Munich in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup round of 16 second leg despite Lúcio's ninth-minute opener for Bayern. That was Bayern's first home defeat by Belgian visitors; they had won all six previous home games against Belgian teams, scoring 13 goals and conceding two.

• The German side still comfortably progressed having won 5-0 in Brussels, Franck Ribéry scoring the final goal.

• The line-ups at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium on 6 March 2008 were:
Anderlecht: Zítka, Gillet, Pareja, Juhász, Wasilewski, Van Damme, Chatelle (Hassan 61), Biglia, Polák, Akın Serhat (Goor 66), Boussoufa.
Bayern: Rensing, Sagnol, Van Buyten, Demichelis, Lahm, Schweinsteiger (Ribéry 46), Ottl, Hamit Altıntop (José Sosa 57), Van Bommel, Podolski, Toni (Klose 46).

• Anderlecht won their first two home matches against Bayern, but that 2008 victory was their first success in six games, home and away (D2 L3).

• The clubs first met in the UEFA Super Cup in August 1976. Gerd Müller scored twice in Bayern's 2-1 first-leg win in Munich, but Anderlecht turned it round with a 4-1 triumph in the return, Rob Rensenbrink netting twice.

• The Brussels team also won the next tie, retrieving another 2-1 away deficit with a 2-0 home win in the 1985/86 European Champion Clubs' Cup quarter-finals. Bayern triumphed at the same stage of the same competition the following year (5-0 home, 2-2 away) and had the better of the sides' encounters in the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League group stage, with Bayern sporting director Hasan Salihamidžić and Anderlecht defender Olivier Deschacht playing both games. The pair drew 1-1 in Belgium before Bayern's Roy Makaay got the only goal from the spot in Munich.

Match background

Anderlecht
• Bottom of Group B, Anderlecht have conceded 15 goals without scoring themselves in losing their first four matches. At home they were beaten 3-0 by Celtic before a 4-0 reverse against Paris on matchday three.

• The Paris defeat was Anderlecht's third in their last nine home matches in European competition (W5 D1).

• Anderlecht have won just one of their last nine home games in the UEFA Champions League, group stage to final, although that 2-0 success against Galatasaray AŞ in November 2014 did end a six-match home losing run.

• Anderlecht's last home game against German opposition was a 6-1 win against 1. FSV Mainz 05 in last season's UEFA Europa League group stage, Les Mauves et Blancs having drawn 1-1 away. They have won two of their last three home games against Bundesliga visitors, but have lost five of the last eight; overall their record against German clubs in Brussels is W9 D3 L5.

• In 2016/17, Anderlecht crashed out to FC Rostov in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round. Moving into the UEFA Europa League, they went all the way to the last eight – their first European quarter-final since losing to FC Internazionale Milano in the 1996/97 UEFA Cup – eventually bowing out to Manchester United FC (1-1 home, 1-2 away aet).

• Anderlecht are appearing in the UEFA Champions League group stage for the 12th time in total. They qualified automatically after landing a 34th Belgian title last term.

Bayern
• Beaten 3-0 at Paris on matchday two, prompting the departure of coach Carlo Ancelotti, Bayern's 2-1 win at Celtic last time out was just their third in their last ten European away games – with five losses.

• Matchday one was Bayern's first meeting with Belgian opponents since that 2008 UEFA Europa League tie with Anderlecht. Overall their away record against Belgian clubs is W2 D3 L2, both defeats coming at Anderlecht.

• Bayern qualified for the group stage after winning their fifth straight Bundesliga title in 2016/17. The Bavarians have reached the knockout rounds for the tenth season in a row.

• Under Ancelotti, Bayern claimed just three points on their travels in last year's group stage, winning at PSV Eindhoven but losing at Club Atlético de Madrid and Rostov. 

• Bayern came second in their group behind Atlético Madrid in 2016/17 – the first time they had failed to win their section since 2009/10. They beat Arsenal FC 10-2 on aggregate in the round of 16, only to lose 6-3 over two legs to Real Madrid CF in the quarter-finals.

Coach and player links
• Massimo Bruno spent 2015/16 in the 2. Bundesliga, with RB Leipzig.

• Mats Hummels was a late substitute when Borussia Dortmund won 3-0 at Anderlecht in the 2014/15 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Javi Martínez's Athletic Club were knocked out of the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League round of 32 by Anderlecht (1-1 home, 0-4 away).

• Łukasz Teodorczyk and Robert Lewandowski are Poland team-mates.

• Lewandowski struck twice in Poland's 3-0 FIFA World Cup qualifying victory in Romania in November 2016. Nicolae Stanciu and Alexandru Chipciu featured for Romania both then and in the June 2017 return, in which Lewandowski added a hat-trick in a 3-1 Polish triumph.

• Stanciu scored and provided an assist in Romania's 3-2 friendly win against Arturo Vidal's Chile on 13 June this year.

• Arjen Robben scored twice in the Netherlands' 2-0 FIFA World Cup qualifying win against Isaac Kiese Thelin and Sweden on 10 October – but it was the Scandinavian side who qualified for the play-offs at their opponents' expense, Robben retiring from international football after the game.

Match facts

Anderlecht
• Anderlecht have won six of their last eight league games.

• Anderlecht have failed to score in four of their last seven games in all competitions.

• Henry Onyekuru scored seven times in eight games between 8 September and 13 October but had subsequently failed to find the net in seven matches for club and country before his 80th-minute winner in Saturday's 2-1 victory at R. Excel Mouscron.

• Onyekuru made his international debut in Nigeria's 1-1 FIFA World Cup qualifying draw on 10 November with an Algeria side featuring Sofianne Hanni. Both came on as substitutes.

• Isaac Kiese Thelin, on loan at Waasland-Beveren, came on as a substitute in both legs to help Sweden reach the World Cup finals by beating Italy 1-0 on aggregate.

• Serigne Mbodji was suspended as Senegal reached the World Cup finals by beating South Africa 2-0 away on 10 November but played the whole game as his country won the reverse fixture 2-1 four days later.

Bayern 
• Bayern have conceded just three goals in 750 minutes since Jupp Heynckes' appointment. They have won all eight games (including a penalty shoot-out victory over Leipzig in the German Cup).

• Robert Lewandowski has scored 13 goals in 12 league games this season, including two in Saturday's 3-0 defeat of Augsburg having missed Poland's international games due to muscular problems.

• Saturday's win was Joshua Kimmich's 50th in the Bundesliga; that has taken him 62 appearances, the quickest ever by a German player.

• Mats Hummels captained Germany for the first time in their goalless friendly against England on 10 November.

• In that game, Kimmich completed 90 minutes for Germany for the 24th time in a row. However, he did not start against France four days later.

• Corentin Tolisso created a goal as France beat Wales 2-0 on 10 November.

• Arjen Robben became Bayern's most prolific overseas goalscorer when claiming the opener against Dortmund on 4 November. It was his 93rd goal for the club, overtaking the previous mark set by Giovane Elber.

• Jérôme Boateng did not feature for Germany in the friendlies against England and France due to thigh problems and was an unused substitute against Augsburg.

• Manuel Neuer (out since 18 September) was originally expected to return just after Christmas following his second metatarsal break, but his comeback may have to be postponed as the healing process is slightly delayed.

• Franck Ribéry (knee, out since 1 October) has resumed light training while Juan Bernat, who had not appeared this season due to an ankle injury sustained in July, resumed team training on 26 October and played 74 minutes against Augsburg.

• Thomas Müller has not featured since the game at Hamburger SV on 21 October due to a hamstring injury.