Schalke v Lokomotiv Moskva facts

Having ended a six-game losing European run on matchday five, Lokomotiv Moskva will attempt to earn a place in the UEFA Europa League when they conclude their Group D campaign with an away game against a Schalke side who are already certain to finish second.

• Weston McKennie's 88th-minute goal gave Schalke a 1-0 win in Moscow on matchday two, helping Schalke pick up eight points from their first five fixtures – with progress to the round of 16 secured on matchday five despite a 3-1 defeat at Porto.

• Lokomotiv have three points having beaten Galatasaray 2-0 at home last time out to close to within one point of the Turkish club. The Russian side will finish third if they win and Galatasaray do not do the same at home to Porto as Galatasaray have a superior head-to-head goal difference.

Form guide
Schalke
• After being held 1-1 at home by Porto and winning at Lokomotiv, the German club picked up four points from their two games against Galatasaray (0-0 away, 2-0 home) before that run of three successive clean sheets was ended by a 3-1 loss at Porto on matchday five.

• Schalke have won only two of their last seven UEFA Champions League games in Gelsenkirchen (D2 L3), conceding 18 goals in that run.

• Schalke are, however, unbeaten in eight home European fixtures (W5 D3).

• Bundesliga runners-up in 2017/18 – their highest league placing since 2009/10 – this is Schalke's first UEFA Champions League group campaign since 2014/15, their third successive appearance.

• The German club did not take part in European competition last season, having reached the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals in 2016/17, where they lost to eventual runners-up Ajax.

• Semi-finalists in 2011, Schalke's last three UEFA Champions League campaigns have all ended in the round of 16.

• Schalke's only previous home game against Russian visitors was a 2-0 defeat of Krasnodar in the 2016/17 UEFA Europa League group stage. Having won 1-0 in Russia and beaten Lokomotiv on matchday two, the German club have kept three clean sheets in winning all three of their previous fixtures with Russian opposition.

Lokomotiv
• Lokomotiv lost their first four games, 0-3 at Galatasaray and that 1-0 home defeat by Schalke preceding home (1-3) and away (1-4) reverses against section leaders Porto. However, a 2-0 defeat of Galatasaray in Moscow last time out kept alive their hopes of finishing third.

• The win against Galatasaray ended Loko's run of six consecutive European defeats – they had won the previous four. That run was the worst losing sequence in Lokomotiv's European history, eclipsing their five successive losses in 2003.

• Russian champions last season for the first time since 2004, Lokomotiv are in the group stage for the fourth time, having not featured since 2003/04 – their third successive appearance – when they reached the round of 16.

• The Moscow club qualified from their group on their last two appearances.

• In 2017/18, Lokomotiv began in the UEFA Europa League group stage, beating Nice in the round of 32 before suffering an 8-1 aggregate loss against eventual champions Atlético Madrid in the last 16.

• The 3-0 first-leg loss at Atlético was Lokomotiv's only away defeat in Europe last season (W2 D2). Despite that defeat, and the subsequent losses at Galatasaray and Porto, they have lost only four of their last 12 European away matches (W4 D4).

• Loko are without an away victory in the UEFA Champions League since a 2-1 win at Galatasaray in the 2002/03 first group stage. Their subsequent record, qualifying included, is D4 L8.

• Lokomotiv won their first fixture against German opponents, a 1-0 success at Bayern München in the 1995/96 UEFA Cup first round first leg, but lost the home return 5-0 to the eventual winners, and have been beaten in all five subsequent games against Bundesliga outfits.

Links and trivia
• Benedikt Höwedes made 240 Bundesliga appearances for Schalke between 2007 and 2017. Together with Jefferson Farfán (2008–15), who scored 39 goals in 170 leagues matches for the club, he won the German Cup and Super Cup in 2011.

• Have played together:
Yevhen Konoplyanka & Grzegorz Krychowiak (Sevilla 2015/16)
Benjamin Stambouli & Grzegorz Krychowiak (Paris Saint-Germain 2016)
Hamza Mendyl & Éder (LOSC Lille 2016/17)

• Krychowiak scored Sevilla's opening goal in a 3-2 defeat of Konoplyanka's Dnipro in the 2015 UEFA Europa League final.

• Alessandro Schöpf scored Austria's winner in a 1-0 friendly defeat of a Russia side that included Lokomotiv's Fedor Smolov, Anton Miranchuk and Aleksei Miranchuk in May 2018.

• Has played in Germany:
Vedran Ćorluka (Bayer Leverkusen 2012)

• International team-mates:
Sebastian Rudy & Benedikt Höwedes (Germany)
Yevhen Konoplyanka & Taras Mikhalik (Ukraine, 2010–12)

• Aleksei and Anton Miranchuk – the latter a substitute – were in the Russia side beaten 3-0 in a friendly by Germany on 15 November, Sebastian Rudy coming on midway through the second half for the home side.

Latest news

Schalke
• Schalke were five games without defeat before a 3-0 loss at Eintracht Frankfurt on 11 November. They have won only one of four matches since (D1 L2), going down 2-1 at home to local rivals – and Bundesliga leaders – Borussia Dortmund on Saturday.

• Nabil Bentaleb has scored four penalties in Schalke's last eight matches, most recently in a 1-1 draw at Hoffenheim on 1 December. Schalke were awarded another spot kick on Saturday, but Bentaleb had already departed; Daniel Caligiuri took it and scored.

• The defeat by Dortmund ended Schalke's three-game home winning run in all competitions.

• Schalke have scored 15 goals in 14 Bundesliga games, nine of them in their last three home matches.

• The 5-2 win against Nürnberg on 24 November was the first time they had scored five goals in a Bundesliga match since beating Hannover 5-4 in January 2013.

• Breel Embolo (broken metatarsal) and Mark Uth (hamstring) both suffered injuries against Eintracht on 11 November and have not played since.

• Guido Burgstaller limped off just before half-time against Dortmund.

• Cedric Teuchert scored in Germany's 2-1 win against Norway on 12 October that took them through to next summer's UEFA European Under-21 Championship, but then suffered a leg injury and has not featured since, although he was on the bench on Saturday.

Lokomotiv Moskva
• After a six-match unbeaten run in the Russian Premier League (W5 D1), Lokomotiv's last three matches have all finished 2-1, defeats at home to Ural and, on 2 December, away at Spartak Moskva before Saturday's home win against Orenburg.

• Jefferson Farfán scored twice in the final 15 minutes at the weekend as Loko came from behind to win; the Peruvian has three goals in his last two league appearances.

• Lokomotiv picked up only two points from their first three Premier League matches – the worst start to a campaign by the defending champions in Russian league history.

• On 5 December Vedran Ćorluka scored the only goal in Loko's 1-0 victory at home against Rubin in the Russian Cup quarter-final first leg; the return will be played in February.

• Boris Rotenberg suffered a serious knee injury in the Rubin game.

• Aleksandr Kolomeytsev has not played this season due to a hip problem.