Monaco v Dortmund facts

Monaco will bring down the curtain on another tough European campaign as they make one last attempt to end a long winless run when they host Borussia Dortmund, who are still harbouring hopes of finishing first in Group A.

• Defeat at section leaders Atlético Madrid last time out confirmed Monaco will finish bottom of the section, and made it 13 European matches without a victory for the French club.

• Dortmund were 3-0 winners at home to Monaco on matchday two – Jacob Bruun Larsen, Paco Alcácer and Marco Reus with the goals – and booked their place in this season's UEFA Champions League round of 16 with a goalless draw at home to Club Brugge last time out.

• The draw with the Belgian club meant Dortmund dropped two points behind Atlético at the top of Group A, so the German club can only finish top if they win on matchday six and Atlético do not do the same at third-placed Club Brugge as BVB have a superior head-to-head goal difference.

Previous meetings
• The teams' only fixtures before this season came in the 2016/17 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals – Monaco's most recent European wins. The French side won the away first leg 3-2 in Germany, Shinji Kagawa getting Dortmund's second goal.

• Radamel Falcao was on target in a 3-1 Monaco victory in the Stade Louis II second leg; Reus got Dortmund's sole reply. Leonardo Jardim's side went on to lose home and away to Juventus in the semi-finals.

Form guide
Monaco
• Having taken the lead against Atlético on matchday one before losing 2-1, Monaco were beaten in Dortmund. A 1-1 matchday three draw at Club Brugge preceded a 4-0 home defeat against the Belgian club, their sixth loss in a row at the Stade Louis II in this competition. The 2-0 reverse at Atlético last time out confirmed Monaco would finish fourth in Group A and extended their run of European away games without a win to seven (D3 L4).

• Before losing their last six home European games, Monaco had won their previous four at the Stade Louis II.

• Monaco are without a win in 13 European games (D3 L10), since a 3-1 home victory against Dortmund in the quarter-final second leg in April 2017.

• Monaco have fielded 28 players in the first five matchdays – more than any other team.

• Second in Ligue 1 last season, Monaco reached the 2016/17 UEFA Champions League semi-finals but finished bottom of their 2017/18 group having collected two points from their six games.

• Monaco were beaten 4-1 at home by RB Leipzig in last season's group stage, only their second defeat against German visitors (W5 D3).

• Runners-up in 2004, Monaco remain the last French team to reach the UEFA Champions League final.

Dortmund
• Having opened the section with a 1-0 win at Club Brugge before beating Monaco, Lucien Favre's side then dismantled Atlético 4-0 in Germany – matching the margin of their biggest home UEFA Champions League victory – only to go down 2-0 in Spain in the reverse fixture. A top-two finish was confirmed by a goalless draw against Club Brugge last time out.

• Dortmund last went successive European games without a goal in November-December 2015; they have not failed to score in three UEFA competition games in a row since drawing a blank in three matches against Rangers between 1967 and 1983.

• Before this season, Dortmund had won only one of their last 11 UEFA Champions League fixtures (D3 L7).

• Fourth in last season's Bundesliga, the German club are in the group stage for the third season running, and the seventh time in eight years – in their 2017/18 campaign they picked up only two points from their six fixtures. They went on to reach the UEFA Europa League round of 16, losing to Salzburg.

• The victory at Club Brugge is BVB's only win in their last eight away UEFA Champions League matches (D2 L5), since a 2-1 success at Sporting CP in October 2016.

• That matchday one victory is also Dortmund's sole win in ten away European matches (D4 L5).

• Dortmund's last trip to France was that 3-1 loss at Monaco in April 2017 – their fifth defeat in their ninth visit (W2 D2). BVB have won only one of their last seven games in France, losing four.

Links and trivia
• Dortmund coach Lucien Favre was in charge of Nice between 2016 and departing for Germany this summer, guiding the club to third place in Ligue 1 in 2016/17. Favre had also had a spell in France as a player, representing Toulouse between 1981 and 1983.

• Abdou Diallo was at Monaco between 2014 and 2017, making ten Ligue 1 appearances.

• Have played together:
Diego Benaglio & Marwin Hitz (Wolfsburg 2008–13)
Benjamin Henrichs & Ömer Toprak (Leverkusen 2015–17)

• Have played in Germany:
Diego Benaglio (Stuttgart 2002–05, Wolfsburg 2008–17)
Benjamin Henrichs (Leverkusen 2015–18)

• Have played in France:
Raphaël Guerreiro (Caen 2012/13, Lorient 2013–16)
Dan-Axel Zagadou (Paris Saint-Germain B 2016/17)

• International team-mates
Kamil Glik & Łukasz Piszczek (Poland)
Youri Tielemans, Nacer Chadli & Axel Witsel (Belgium)
Youssef Aït Bennasser & Achraf Hakimi (Morocco)

• Falcao scored in Colombia's 3-0 defeat of Piszczek's Poland during this summer's FIFA World Cup group stage.

• Kagawa was on target as Japan beat Falcao and Colombia 2-1 in the same section at the World Cup.

• Kagawa's Japan lost 3-2 to Belgium in the round of 16 at the World Cup, Chadli scoring Belgium's last-minute winner.

• Guerreiro helped Portugal win UEFA EURO 2016 in France.

Latest news

Monaco
• Monaco's derby game with Nice, scheduled for 7 December, was postponed for security reasons.

• Monaco have won only three of their 22 matches this season, but two of the last four. The 1-0 victory at Caen on 24 November was their first triumph since a 3-1 success at Nantes on the opening day of Ligue 1 on 11 August. They have lost 14, including 11 of the last 16 and four in a row before Leonardo Jardim's departure on 11 October.

• All three of Monaco's wins this season have come away from home, most recently the 2-0 success at Amiens on 4 December.

• Radamel Falcao scored both goals in Amiens and is Monaco's top scorer in Ligue 1 this season with seven; the Colombian had 14 after 16 games last season.

• Youri Tielemans (four) is the only other Monaco player to have more than one Ligue 1 goal this season.

• Thierry Henry has lost six of his first ten games in charge, winning two.

• Monaco have 13 points after 16 Ligue 1 games in 2018/19, 19 less than at the same stage last season. They have scored 16 goals, having managed 37 after 16 games in 2017/18.

• The 12-match run without a Ligue 1 victory (D4 L8) was the club's worst in the top flight since a 13-game winless streak between February and August 1986.

• Rony Lopes signed a new contract until 2021 on 2 December, although he has not played since suffering a hamstring injury in training with Portugal in early September despite returning to training in late October.

• Sidelined since late September with an elbow injury, Kevin Ndoram returned to training but picked up a knee injury on 16 November and has not played since.

• Stevan Jovetić has been out since being replaced with a hamstring problem ten minutes into their matchday three game at Club Brugge on 24 October.

• Monaco have a lengthy injury list that also includes Danijel Subašić (out since 7 October, hamstring), Almamy Touré (6 November, hamstring), Djibril Sidibé (21 November, knee) and Samuel Grandsir (30 November, thigh). Jean-Eudes Aholou has been out with a foot injury since 27 October while Jordi Mboula has not played since picking up a hamstring injury in the 4-0 home loss to Paris Saint-Germain on 11 November and is expected to be sidelined until the new year.

Dortmund
• The matchday four loss at Atlético is Dortmund's only defeat this season (W16 D4). The Bundesliga leaders were 2-0 victors against Freiburg on 1 December to open up a seven-point gap at the top.

• Marco Reus scored the penalty opener against Freiburg and has five goals in his last eight Dortmund games.

• Dortmund were 2-1 winners at local rivals Schalke on Saturday, Jadon Sancho with a 74th-minute winner. Thomas Delaney had opened the scoring with his first goal for the club.

• Paco Alcácer, who also was on target against Freiburg, has ten goals in his first nine Bundesliga matches, nine of those strikes coming as a substitute. After 14 matchdays the striker has already equalled the record for the most goals by a substitute in a Bundesliga season, held jointly by Nils Petersen (2016/17) and Viorel Ganea (2002/03). He has also matched Charly Dörfel, who also managed ten goals in his first eight games for Hamburg in 1963, for the best scoring start to a Bundesliga career – although the Spaniard scored his goals in 218 minutes of playing time compared to Dörfel's 519.

• BVB have scored 39 goals in their first 14 Bundesliga games.

• Thirteen of Dortmund's league goals this season have been scored by substitutes, setting a new club record by eclipsing the 2008/09 mark of 12.

• Sixteen different players have scored for Dortmund in the first 14 league games, a new Bundesliga record.

• Manuel Akanji (knee), Christian Pulišić (muscular problems) and Marius Wolf (knee) all missed the game against Freiburg, while Dan-Axel Zagadou (left foot) had to be substituted early on. Wolf and Zagadou sat out Saturday's game at Schalke, where Akanji played 90 minutes and Pulišić came on as a late substitute.

• Marcel Schmelzer has been out since 26 September with a knee injury, but is back in training.