Barcelona v Slavia Praha facts

Wins in their last two fixtures have given Barcelona a three-point cushion at the top of Group F, and they will be looking for a third straight success when Slavia Praha come to the Camp Nou for the first time.

• In Prague on Matchday 3, the teams' first ever meeting, Lionel Messi gave Barcelona a third-minute lead but Jan Bořil levelled five minutes into the second half, only for a Peter Olayinka own goal seven minutes later to settle the contest.

• That means Barcelona have seven points in the standings, three ahead of both Borussia Dortmund and Internazionale; Slavia are fourth on one point.

Form guide
Barcelona
• Having been held 0-0 at Dortmund on Matchday 1 – the second successive European match in which Barcelona had failed to score, for the first time since October-November 2017 – the Spanish side came from behind to beat Inter 2-1 at the Camp Nou in their second fixture, Luis Suárez scoring twice in the second half including a late winner.

• Barcelona are unbeaten in 33 UEFA Champions League home matches, a run that started in September 2013 (W30 D3); the 5-1 defeat of Lyon in last season's round of 16 second leg eclipsed the previous competition record of 29 set by Bayern München between March 1998 and April 2002.

• Barcelona have won their last five matches against Czech clubs, scoring 15 goals and conceding only two; in their most recent contests before Matchday 3 they got the better of Viktoria Plzeň in the 2011/12 group stage, winning 2-0 at home and 4-0 away with Messi scoring a hat-trick in the latter match.

• Barça have won five of their six home matches against Czech visitors, scoring 18 goals and conceding only two in those victories; the exception was a 1-0 defeat against Sparta Praha in the 1985/86 European Champion Clubs' Cup first round second leg (2-2 agg, Barcelona won on away goals).

• Spanish champions for the 26th time in 2018/19, their fourth title in five years, this is Barcelona's 24th UEFA Champions League group campaign, a competition record they share with Real Madrid. They last failed to qualify from their group in 2000/01 and have reached the round of 16 or better for the last 15 seasons, winning their group in each of the last 12.

• In 2018/19, Barcelona finished first ahead of Tottenham, Inter and PSV Eindhoven in Group B, picking up 14 points – seven of them at home. They eased past Lyon in the last 16 (0-0 a, 5-1 h) and Manchester United in the quarter-finals (1-0 a, 3-0 h) before a 3-0 first-leg victory against Liverpool in the last four, only for the English club to turn the tables in stunning style at Anfield (0-4).

• Defeat on Merseyside ended Barcelona's 11-match unbeaten run in the UEFA Champions League (W8 D3). They have lost only two of their last 26 UEFA Champions League fixtures (W16 D8).

• Barcelona have been European champions on five occasions, most recently in 2015.

Slavia
• The Prague club looked set to pick up their first ever away win in the UEFA Champions League group stage thanks to Olayinka's 63rd-minute goal at San Siro on Matchday 1, only for Nicolò Barella to level for Inter two minutes into added time. Two weeks later, Dortmund were 2-0 winners in Prague.

• Champions of the Czech Republic for the second time in three years last season – their 18th domestic title – and also Czech Cup winners, completing their first double in the Czech Republic, Slavia successfully negotiated the UEFA Champions League qualifying rounds for only the second time. Since their sole previous group appearance 12 years ago – when they finished third in their section behind Arsenal and Sevilla – the Prague club have lost in the preliminary rounds four times.

• Last season Slavia were beaten 3-1 on aggregate by Dynamo Kyiv in the third qualifying round (1-1 h, 0-2 a). Moving into the UEFA Europa League group stage, Jindřich Trpišovský's side finished second behind Zenit in their section and went on to get the better of Genk and Sevilla in the knockout rounds before losing 5-3 to eventual champions Chelsea over two games (0-1 h, 3-4 a) in the quarter-finals.

• Slavia entered this season's UEFA Champions League in the play-offs, where they beat Romania's CFR Cluj 1-0 both home and away. Before that tie, they had won only one of their last 15 matches in the UEFA Champions League (D7 L7).

• The Prague club picked up five points in their only previous UEFA Champions League group campaign, in 2007/08, four of them against Steaua București (2-1 h, 1-1 a); they also drew 0-0 at home against Arsenal.

• Slavia's away record in the UEFA Champions League group stage is D2 L2.

• Last season's win against Sevilla in Prague was only Slavia's second success in 12 games against Spanish opposition. However, they have lost only two of their last seven contests, home and away (W1 D4) – on Matchday 3 and a 2-0 defeat at home against Villarreal in the 2017/18 UEFA Europa League group stage.

• Slavia have drawn their last three matches in Spain, where they have never won – although they have been beaten on only two of their six visits. Their away leg against Sevilla last season finished 2-2.

Links and trivia
• Suárez scored in Ajax's 2-1 away defeat against Slavia in the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round second leg on 29 August 2007, two goals from Stanislav Vlček – now the Prague club's general manager – taking Slavia into the group stage for the first time. Suárez had also played in Slavia's 1-0 first-leg success in Amsterdam.

• Suárez was also on target for Ajax against Slavia in the UEFA Cup group stage on 17 December 2008, his 90th-minute penalty earning the Dutch side a 2-2 draw.

• Marc-André ter Stegen was in the Germany side that drew 1-1 against hosts the Czech Republic in the group stage of the 2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship at the Eden Arena on 23 June 2015.

• One of Slavia's most famous sons, former captain Ferdinand Daučík, part of the Czechoslovakia side that reached the 1934 FIFA World Cup final and a winner of the Mitropa Cup four years later, was Barcelona coach between 1950 and 1954, winning two league and cup doubles. He went on to coach a number of other Spanish clubs: Athletic Club, Atlético Madrid, Real Betis (twice), Real Murcia, Sevilla, Real Zaragoza, Elche, Sant Andreu (three times), Espanyol, Cádiz and Levante.

Latest news

Barcelona
• Barcelona's seven-match winning run in all competitions, in which they scored 20 goals and conceded four, was ended by a 3-1 loss at Levante on Saturday. It was their third Liga defeat of the season, all away from home.

• Ernesto Valverde's side beat Valladolid 5-1 on 29 October, Luis Suárez's goal meaning the Uruguayan has scored against every one of the 27 sides he has faced in the Liga since joining Barcelona in 2015.

• Lionel Messi scored twice against Vallodolid and gave Barcelona the lead at Levante with a penalty, making it six goals in his last five games.

• Suárez has six goals in his last seven Barcelona appearances. He was withdrawn shortly before half-time at Levante having suffered a calf injury.

• Samuel Umtiti made his first appearance of the season at Eibar on 19 October after recovering from a foot injury, but has not played since due to a knee problem.

• Ansu Fati became the second youngest player to appear for Barça in the Liga when he made his debut aged 16 years 298 days in a 5-2 victory against Real Betis on 25 August. Six days later, the teenager then became the club's youngest Liga goalscorer, aged 16 years 304 days, in a 2-2 draw with Osasuna that made him the third youngest Liga goalscorer of all time.

• Fati is also the youngest player to appear in this season's UEFA Champions League, making his competition debut on Matchday 1 against Dortmund aged 16 years 321 days.

• Messi was named Forward of the Season for the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League in Monaco on 29 August; Frenkie de Jong collected the Midfielder's award for his performances with Ajax last season.

• On 23 September, Messi was named best men's player at the Best FIFA Football Awards in Milan.

Slavia
• Slavia, who had won the Czech Cup in each of the last two seasons, were eliminated from the 2019/20 competition in the last 16 after a 2-0 extra-time defeat away to Baník Ostrava on 30 October.

• Having been unbeaten in 24 matches in all competitions (W19 D5) before the 2-0 home defeat by Dortmund on Matchday 2, Slavia have now lost three of their last seven games, winning the other four including Saturday's 4-0 home league victory against Baník Ostrava.

• Slavia's record in the Czech First League this season is 13 wins and two draws, with 33 goals scored and only three conceded. They have kept 12 clean sheets.

• Goalkeeper Ondřej Kolář has kept 13 clean sheets in 18 Slavia appearances in all competitions this season.

• Tomáš Souček became Slavia's top scorer in the league this season at the weekend, his double against Baník taking his 2019/20 tally to seven; he also missed a penalty.

• David Hovorka damaged the cruciate ligament in his knee in Slavia's 1-0 away win against Viktoria Plzeň on 27 October; he has undergone surgery and is expected to be out for several months.

• Ibrahim Traoré returned to action against Plzeň having not played since the Matchday 1 draw at Internazionale due to an ankle injury.