Madrid's flying start faces Juventus test

Real Madrid CF have the advantage in Group B after winning their first two games and will be looking to extend their lead over Juventus to seven points when the teams meet on matchday three.

• Madrid – seeking a tenth European Cup – started with a 6-1 win at Galatasaray AŞ and followed up with a 4-0 home win over FC København, Cristiano Ronaldo adding two goals to his matchday one hat-trick. Juventus were held 1-1 in Copenhagen and then drew 2-2 at home to Galatasaray.

Previous meetings
• The fixture renews a rivalry between two teams who together have lifted this trophy four times since the onset of the UEFA Champions League from a total of seven appearances in the final.

• They met in the 1998 final in Amsterdam when a 66th-minute Predrag Mijatović goal ended the Merengues' 32-year wait to win their seventh European Cup title.

• The teams have faced each other 14 times – all in the European Cup – with home advantage proving key: Madrid's home record is W4 L2 while Juventus' is W5 L1. Those 14 games include that 1998 final and a 1961/62 European Cup quarter-final replay staged in Paris which Madrid (the nominal home team) won 3-1.

• They last met in the 2008/09 group stage when the Italian team won home and away. Juve won 2-1 in Turin, then Alessandro Del Piero scored twice at the Santiago Bernabéu in a 2-0 victory.

• The lineups in Madrid on 5 November 2008 were:
Madrid: Casillas, Ramos, Cannavaro, Heinze (Saviola 82), Marcelo, Sneijder (Higuaín 65), M Diarra, Guti, Raúl, Van Nistelrooy (Van der Vaart 82), Drenthe.
Juventus: Manninger, Mellberg, Legrottaglie, Chiellini, Molinaro, Marchionni, Sissoko, Tiago, Nedvěd, Del Piero (De Ceglie 90+3) Amauri (Iaquinta 84).

• It was one of two Juventus victories in their six away games against Madrid – they also won 1-0 in the 1961/62 European Champion Clubs' Cup quarter-final, but lost 3-1 in a Paris replay. The other four games in Madrid all went the way of the home side although the 2008 win was the only time there was more than a single goal between the teams.

• Juventus have come out on top overall on the last three occasions the clubs have been paired together. However, Juve have lost 12 of their 19 visits to Spain, winning only three.

• The Italian club overturned a 2-1 first-leg defeat against Madrid in the 2002/03 semi-finals, winning 3-1 at home. In the final, the Bianconeri drew 0-0 with an AC Milan side coached by Carlo Ancelotti, who had an earlier spell in charge of Juve, after extra time. A 3-2 loss on penalties denied the Turin club a third European Cup.

• The 2008 Juventus defeat was the second of Madrid's three successive home losses against Italian visitors in the space of 19 months. Their overall home record against Serie A sides is W21 D2 L6.

Match background
• Madrid were Group D runners-up last season behind Borussia Dortmund. The two sides met again in the semi-finals when a 4-1 reverse in Germany set them on their way to a third successive semi-final elimination despite a 2-0 home success.

• Madrid won four of their fixtures at the Santiago Bernabéu last season, drawing the other two.

• Juve, meanwhile, lost 2-0 home and away to FC Bayern München in last season's quarter-finals to end an unbeaten 18-game European run. They drew their first two away games and won the next two, extending their unbeaten away run in Europe to nine games before the defeat in Germany.

Team ties
• Carlo Ancelotti, twice a European Cup winner with AC Milan as a player before coaching victories in 2003 (against Juve) and 2007, coached Juventus between 1999 and 2001, with Antonio Conte captaining the side.

• Real Madrid assistant coach Zinédine Zidane played for Juve between 1996 and 2001 and was a team-mate of Conte.

• Xabi Alonso scored Liverpol FC's equalising third goal in the 3-3 draw against Ancelotti's Milan in the 2005 UEFA Champions League final in Istanbul. Andrea Pirlo missed from the spot as the English side won on penalties.

• Alonso and Pirlo were again midfield rivals two years later as Ancelotti's Milan defeated Liverpool 2-1 in the Athens final.

• Iker Casillas, Álvaro Arbeloa, Sergio Ramos, Xabi Alonso and Fernando Llorente were in Spain's victorious 2010 FIFA World Cup squad.

• Casillas saved two spot kicks as Spain defeated Gianluigi Buffon and Giorgio Chiellini's Italy 4-2 on penalties in Vienna in the UEFA EURO 2008 quarter-final. The game was goalless after 120 minutes.

• Alonso scored a penalty against Buffon for Spain in a Bari friendly on 10 August 2011. Italy, who also fielded Leonardo Bonucci, Chiellini, Claudio Marchisio and Pirlo, won 2-1.

• The same Juventus quintet plus Andrea Barzagli were defeated 4-0 by a Spain team captained by Casillas and including Ramos, Alonso and Arbeloa, in the UEFA EURO 2012 final in Kyiv. Angelo Ogbonna and Sebastian Giovinco were unused Italy substitutes.

• Giovinco and Pirlo scored in the shoot-out along with Ramos as Spain defeated Italy 7-6 on penalties in the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup semi-final in Fortaleza after a goalless 120 minutes. Bonucci missed the the decisive penalty.

• Llorente scored five times – twice at the Santiago Bernabéu – against Madrid in his total of 85 goals for Athletic Club. He was on the winning side just once in 17 encounters with the Merengues, Athletic losing the other 16 games.

• Carlos Tévez and Ángel Di María are team-mates for Argentina.

• Paul Pogba and Raphaël Varane both made their France debuts on 22 March 2013 in a World Cup qualifier against Georgia at the Stade de France. Karim Benzema also played in that 3-1 victory.

• Martín Cáceres played in Spain for RC Recreativo de Huelva, FC Barcelona and Sevilla FC. He scored once against Madrid but lost all five encounters with the Merengues.