Valencia v Juventus facts

Valencia mark their return to the UEFA Champions League after three seasons away with a home game against Juventus, taking Cristiano Ronaldo back to Spain in his first European engagement with his new club.

• This is only Valencia's second campaign in the competition in six seasons, and begins with a first competitive fixture against a club whose 2017/18 European campaign ended in Spain in dramatic circumstances.

Form guide
Valencia
• Fourth in the Spanish Liga in 2017/18, this is Valencia's 11th UEFA Champions League group stage campaign. Finalists in both 1999/2000 and 2000/01, they have not reached the last 16 since 2012/13.

• Valencia did not take part in UEFA club competition in either of the last two seasons. In their most recent campaign, 2015/16, they finished third in their UEFA Champions League section to move into the UEFA Europa League, where they beat Rapid Wien 10-0 on aggregate in the round of 32 before losing on away goals to fellow Spanish side Athletic Club in the round of 16 (0-1 away, 2-1 home).

• Los Blanquinegros have lost their last three UEFA Champions League fixtures, and five of their last eight in the competition proper.

• Valencia have not played Italian opposition since the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League group stage, beating Genoa 3-2 at home and 2-1 away – David Villa scoring a late winner in each instance.

• That win in Genoa was just Valencia's second in their 11 trips to Italy (D3 L6).

Juventus
• Juventus claimed their seventh successive Serie A title in 2017/18, and are in the UEFA Champions League group stage for the 19th time overall. They last failed to reach the round of 16 in 2013/14.

• In last season's UEFA Champions League, Juve finished second to Barcelona in their section before ousting Tottenham in the round of 16 (2-2 home, 2-1 away). Their season looked to be over when they went down 3-0 at home to Real Madrid in the quarter-final first leg – a repeat of the 2017 final, won 4-1 by the Spanish side – only for Juve to score three times in the return. Ronaldo, however, had the last word against his current club, converting a penalty deep into added time to end Juve's campaign.

• Juventus kicked off their 2017/18 UEFA Champions League campaign with a defeat in Spain, going down 3-0 at Barcelona, but are unbeaten in four away games since, winning the last three.

• The win at Madrid was only Juventus' second victory from their last eight trips to Spain. Their overall away record against Liga opposition is W5 D6 L16.

• Winners in 1985 and 1996, Juventus have played in nine European Cup finals – losing a record seven, including all of their last five.

Links and trivia
• Ronaldo played for Madrid between 2009 and joining Juventus this summer, scoring 311 goals in 292 matches; that included 15 goals in 18 appearances against Valencia.

• Valencia goalkeeper Neto made 11 Serie A appearances for Juventus between 2015 and 2017, having featured 72 times in the league for Fiorentina from 2011 to 2015.

• João Cancelo scored twice in 72 Liga outings for Valencia between 2014 and 2017.

• Sami Khedira was a Real Madrid player from 2010 to 2015, winning the Liga in 2011/12 and the UEFA Champions League two years later.

• Has also played in Spain:
Mario Mandžukić (Atlético Madrid 2014/15)

• Has also played in Italy:
Cristiano Piccini (Fiorentina 2010/11, Carrarese 2011/12 loan, Spezia 2012/13 loan, Livorno 2013/14)
Jeison Murillo (Internazionale Milano 2015–17)
Geoffrey Kondogbia (Internazionale Milano 2015–17)

• Have played together:
Gonçalo Guedes & Blaise Matuidi (Paris Saint-Germain, 2016/17)
Kévin Gameiro & Blaise Matuidi (Paris 2011–13)
Ezequiel Garay & Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid 2009–11)
Ezequiel Garay & Sami Khedira (Real Madrid 2010/11)
Denis Cheryshev & Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid 2015/16)

• International team-mates:
Jeison Murillo & Juan Cuadrado (Colombia)
Geoffrey Kondogbia & Blaise Matuidi (France)
Gonçalo Guedes & Cristiano Ronaldo, João Cancelo (Portugal)

Latest news

Valencia
• Summer transfers
In: Uroš Račić (Crvena zvezda), Geoffrey Kondogbia (Inter, loan made permanent), Mouctar Diakhaby (Lyon), Daniel Wass (Celta Vigo), Cristiano Piccini (Sporting CP), Michy Batshuayi (Chelsea, loan), Kevin Gameiro (Atlético), Denis Cheryshev (Villarreal, loan), Gonçalo Guedes (Paris)
Out: João Cancelo (Juventus), Nacho Vidal (Osasuna), Nemanja Maksimović (Getafe), Zakaria Bakkali (Anderlecht), Nani (Sporting CP), Martín Montoya (Brighton), Álvaro Medrán (Rayo Vallecano, loan), Simone Zaza (Torino, loan)

• Valencia have three points after four games of the new Liga season – three fewer than at the same stage last season – having drawn three of their matches, including Saturday's 0-0 stalemate against Real Betis.

• Michy Batshuayi scored twice in Belgium's 4-0 friendly win in Scotland on 7 September.

• Denis Cheryshev scored four times in five appearances as Russia reached the FIFA World Cup quarter-finals this summer. He also found the net in a 2-1 UEFA Nations League win against Turkey on 7 September.

• Rodrigo scored Spain's decisive goal in a 2-1 victory away to England in the UEFA Nations League on 8 September; three days later he found the net again in a 6-0 defeat of Croatia in which José Gayà made his international debut.

• Neto marked his first appearance for Brazil with a clean sheet in a 5-0 friendly win against El Salvador on 11 September.

Juventus
• Summer transfers
In: Douglas Costa (Bayern München, loan made permanent), Mattia Perin (Genoa), Andrea Favilli (Ascoli), Emre Can (Liverpool), João Cancelo (Valencia), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Leonardo Bonucci (Milan)
Out: Gianluigi Buffon (Paris), Stephan Lichtsteiner (Arsenal), Kwadwo Asamoah (Internazionale), Alberto Cerri (Cagliari, loan), Alberto Brignoli (Palermo), Mattia Caldara (Milan), Gonzalo Higuaín (Milan, loan), Marko Pjaca (Fiorentina, loan), Andrea Favilli (Genoa, loan), Stefano Sturaro (Sporting CP, loan), Claudio Marchisio (Zenit), Luca Clemenza (Padova, loan)

• Juventus have started their bid for an eighth successive Serie A title with four consecutive wins.

• Juve have lost only once in their last 29 Serie A matches, winning 24.

• New signing Ronaldo opened his Juventus account in his fourth game, scoring twice in Sunday's 2-1 home win against Sassuolo.

• Blaise Matuidi made five appearances in France's FIFA World Cup triumph, his side beating Mario Mandžukić's Croatia in the final. Mandžukić scored against Denmark and England in Russia, and was also on target in the final – although he also scored an own goal in what proved his last appearance for Croatia before announcing his international retirement.

• Full-back Leonardo Spianazzola was not included in the UEFA Champions League squad as he is recovering from knee surgery.

• Ronaldo's overhead kick for Real Madrid against his current club Juventus in last season's UEFA Champions League quarter-final first leg was voted UEFA.com Goal of the Season.

• On 12 September Sami Khedira renewed his contract with Juventus until 2021. Andrea Barzagli (2019), Giorgio Chiellini (2020) and Miralem Pjanić (2023) agreed new deals over the summer.