Internazionale v Dortmund facts

Internazionale welcome Borussia Dortmund to Milan knowing they need to kick-start their stuttering Group F campaign.

• The Italian side have picked up only one point from their first two fixtures and trail both Dortmund and Barcelona, who beat the Nerazzurri on Matchday 2, by three points.

• Inter, however, have struggled at home to German visitors in recent years and will hope to improve on that record in their first games against Dortmund in more than 25 years.

Previous meetings
• The teams last met in the 1993/94 UEFA Cup quarter-finals, Inter – who would go on to lift the trophy, beating Salzburg in the final – going through thanks to a 3-1 first-leg success in Germany in which Wim Jonk scored twice. They were left hanging on, however, after going two goals down back at San Siro – Antonio Manicone's 80th-minute goal ultimately making sure of progress.

• Inter had also come out on top when the teams met in the European Champion Clubs' Cup semi-finals in April 1964, following up a 2-2 draw at Dortmund's former Stadion Rote Erde home with a 2-0 victory at San Siro, Sandro Mazzola scoring in both legs. Once again the Milan club went on to take the trophy, beating Real Madrid 3-1 in the Vienna final to win their first European Cup.

Form guide
Inter
• Having drawn 1-1 at home to Slavia Praha on Matchday 1, Inter went down 2-1 at Barcelona last time out to make it four European fixtures without a win (D2 L2), with only two goals scored in that sequence. They are without a victory in their last six UEFA Champions League matches (D3 L3), scoring just four goals.

• Fourth in Serie A in 2018/19, Inter are the last Italian team to win the UEFA Champions League, in 2010 – their third European Cup triumph, and first in 45 years.

• This is the 13th time Inter have been in the group stage – last season was their first appearance since 2011/12.

• In 2018/19 Inter won their first two fixtures, against Tottenham and PSV Eindhoven, but picked up only two more points to lose out to Spurs on head-to-head record and finished third in Group B, which was won by Barcelona. Moving into the UEFA Europa League, they knocked out Rapid Wien in the round of 32 (1-0 a, 4-0 h) but lost 1-0 in the home second leg, and on aggregate, against Eintracht Frankfurt in the last 16.

• Defeat by Eintracht ended Inter's six-match unbeaten home run in European matches (W4 D2).

• However, the Eintracht result was also Inter's fourth successive home defeat against German visitors; a 4-0 UEFA Champions League group stage defeat of Werder Bremen in September 2010 was their only win in their last seven such fixtures (D1 L5).

• Indeed, home and away Inter are without a win in six games against Bundesliga opponents (D1 L5); a 3-2 victory at Bayern München in March 2011 is their only success in nine matches (D1 L7) although one of only three wins in their last 16 matches with German clubs (D4 L9) came against Bayern in the 2010 UEFA Champions League final (2-0).

• Last season was the first time in nine UEFA Champions League campaigns Inter had failed to progress from their group.

Dortmund
• Dortmund have won only two of their last seven UEFA Champions League matches (D2 L3), although one of those wins came last time out, 2-0 at Slavia. They were three games without a goal before their victory in Prague, drawing 0-0 at home to Barcelona on Matchday 1.

• Second in the Bundesliga in 2018/19, this is Dortmund's 14th UEFA Champions League campaign; they were winners in 1997, and runners-up in 2013. BVB have reached the round of 16 in five of their last six participations.

• In last season's group stage, Lucien Favre's side won at Club Brugge (1-0) and Monaco (2-0) either side of a 2-0 loss at Atlético Madrid that featured the only goals scored against them in their six matches. Dortmund conceded the fewest goals in the group stage (two) and kept the most clean sheets (five), but got no further than the last 16, losing both legs against Tottenham (0-3 a, 0-1 h).

• Dortmund have managed only three victories in their last 13 European away matches (D4 L6), although all of those wins have come in their last five matches (L2) – and all in the UEFA Champions League.

• BVB last visited Italy in the 2017/18 UEFA Europa League round of 32, drawing 1-1 in their second leg at Atalanta to go through 4-3 on aggregate. They lost their first seven away matches against Italian clubs, including those two at Inter, but have improved that record in their last nine contests (W3 D2 L4). Their one UEFA Champions League triumph came at the expense of Italian opposition in the 1997 final when they beat Juventus 3-1 in Munich.

Links and trivia
• Has played in Germany:
Valentino Lazaro (Hertha Berlin 2017–19)

• Mario Götze scored as Germany defeated Italy 4-1 in a March 2016 friendly; Antonio Conte was the Italy coach and Andrea Ranocchia a second-half substitute.

• International team-mates:
Lautaro Martínez & Leonardo Balerdi (Argentina)
Romelu Lukaku & Axel Witsel, Thorgan Hazard (Belgium)

• Lautaro Martínez's Argentina drew 2-2 in a friendly against a Germany side including Julian Brandt on 9 October.

Latest news

Inter
• Inter's six-game winning run to start the new Serie A season was ended by a 2-1 loss at home to Juventus on 6 October.

• The Nerazzurri conceded only two goals in their first six Serie A games, keeping four clean sheets, but, having won 4-3 at Sassuolo on Sunday, have now shipped five in their last two matches.

• Romelu Lukaku ended a four-game scoreless run for Inter with two goals at Sassuolo; the last four of his five Serie A strikes have come in away games.

• Lautaro Martínez also scored twice on Sunday and has found the net in Inter's last three games in all competitions, four goals in total.

• Inter won their first six games in a Serie A season only once before, in 1966/67.

• Lukaku scored twice for Belgium in the 9-0 win over San Marino on 10 October that secured their place at UEFA EURO 2020.

• Valentino Lazaro scored in Austria's 3-1 EURO qualifying win against Israel on 10 October and set up the only goal of the game against Slovenia three days later.

• Marcelo Brozović won his 50th cap for Croatia on 10 October as they beat Hungary 3-0 at home in a UEFA EURO 2020 qualifier.

• Alexis Sánchez suffered an ankle injury on international duty with Chile and has undergone surgery that is expected to keep him out until the new year.

• Danilo D'Ambrosio suffered a broken toe during Italy's 2-0 win against Greece on 12 October that confirmed the Azzurri's place at UEFA EURO 2020 and missed the Sassuolo game.

• Stefano Sensi missed both Italy games during the international break after suffering a thigh injury in the defeat against Juve, and did not feature at Sassuolo either.

• Antonio Conte replaced Luciano Spalletti as Inter coach in the summer, signing a three-year contract with the Nerazzurri. He has now won 21 of his last 23 Serie A games, with Juventus in 2013/14 and Inter this season.

Dortmund
• Axel Witsel's next appearance in the UEFA Champions League, group stage to final, will be his 50th.

• BVB had drawn three successive Bundesliga games 2-2 – away to Eintracht Frankfurt and Freiburg and at home against Werder Bremen – before Saturday's 1-0 home win against Bundesliga leaders Borussia Mönchengladbach.

• Dortmund have 15 points from their first eight Bundesliga games this season, five points less than at the same stage of 2018/19.

• The defeat of Mönchengladbach meant BVB set a new club record, finding the net in 29 successive Bundesliga home games; the previous record of 28 was set between February 2011 and October 2012. They had scored two or more in 20 in a row before finding the net only once on Saturday.

• Achraf Hakimi has scored three goals in BVB's last three games.

• Witsel and Thorgan Hazard both helped Belgium qualify for UEFA EURO 2020 during the international break. Although neither featured in the 9-0 win against San Marino that clinched a place in next summer's finals, both played 90 minutes against Kazakhstan on 13 October (2-0).

• Dortmund goalkeeper Roman Bürki was forced off midway through the second half on Saturday after a heavy collision, Marwin Hitz taking his place for the final 19 minutes.

• Łukasz Piszczek suffered an adductors injury on 5 October in Freiburg, returning as an added-time substitute on Saturday.

• Paco Alcácer, who has scored ten goals in 11 competitive matches this season for club and country, has missed Dortmund's last three games as well as Spain's qualification for UEFA EURO 2020 in the international break due to Achilles tendon problems.

• Nico Schulz suffered a foot injury in Germany's 4-2 loss against the Netherlands on 6 September, returning to play 90 minutes for Dortmund on Saturday.

• On 17 October Raphaël Guerreiro extended his contract until 2023.

FootballPeople weeks
The FootballPeople weeks take place from 10 to 24 October 2019 and are organised by UEFA's social responsibility partner Fare. The weeks are a global campaign aimed at tackling discrimination and celebrating diversity in football. The UEFA Champions League is offering its full support to the FootballPeople weeks; teams will line up for a mixed photo with the referees, while an #EqualGame hashtag will also be on display. Videos will be played on giant screens at stadiums across Europe, and child mascots will be wearing #FootballPeople t-shirts. UEFA's collaboration with the Fare network's FootballPeople weeks has been running since 2001. The aim of this initiative fits in perfectly with the goals of #EqualGame, which is looking to promote inclusion, diversity and accessibility.