City chasing third place in Dortmund
Monday, November 26, 2012
Article summary
Manchester City FC go in search of the consolation prize of a UEFA Europa League berth when they take on Group D winners Borussia Dortmund in their final fixture.
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Manchester City FC go in search of the consolation prize of a UEFA Europa League berth when they take on Borussia Dortmund in their final Group D fixture.
• Dortmund already have first place in the section sewn up but City, in fourth, must win and hope third-placed AFC Ajax falter against Real Madrid CF if they are to earn European football in the new year.
Match background
• Although the clubs had never met before their 1-1 draw on matchday two, Dortmund's first European match came at City's old Maine Road stadium against Manchester United FC in the 1956/57 European Champion Clubs' Cup first round, owing to Old Trafford's lack of floodlights. They lost 3-2, which proved the eventual aggregate score.
• Dortmund overcame United 2-0 on aggregate in the 1996/97 UEFA Champions League semi-final en route to winning the trophy. Lars Ricken, now head of the club's youth department, got the only goal of the second leg at Old Trafford.
• With three wins and three draws, Dortmund have never lost at home to English visitors. Ivan Perišić preserved that unbeaten record with his 88th-minute equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Arsenal FC in the 2011/12 group stage.
• City lost 2-0 at FC Bayern München in last season's UEFA Champions League, but did beat the Bavarian side 2-0 at home in their final group stage fixture.
• City's record in Germany is W1 D0 L4. Their solitary success was a 2-0 victory at FC Schalke 04 in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup group stage, in which Joe Hart, Micah Richards and Vincent Kompany played.
• Dortmund beat Liverpool FC in the final of the 1965/66 European Cup Winners' Cup.
Team ties
• Robert Mancini faced Dortmund as a UC Sampdoria player in the 1989/90 European Cup Winners' Cup second round, scoring an 88th-minute equaliser in a 1-1 away draw before a 2-0 home victory for Samp, who went on to win the trophy.
• Mancini's FC Internazionale Milano finished above SV Werder Bremen in the 2004/05 group stage, taking four points off them. Inter were second behind Bayern in the 2006/07 group stage, taking one point from the German club.
• Kompany played for Hamburger SV from 2006 to 2008, facing Dortmund twice in the Bundesliga – a 1-0 away loss in September 2006 and a 1-0 home win in March 2008.
• Edin Džeko was at VfL Wolfsburg between 2007 and 2011, winning the Bundesliga title in 2008/09. He scored four times in seven league meetings with Dortmund, winning three, drawing two and losing two.
• Javi García's first European goal came against Łukasz Piszczek's Hertha BSC Berlin in the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League round of 32. He scored an own goal in a 1-1 first-leg draw before finding the right net in a 4-0 home victory.
• Pablo Zabaleta played in RCD Espanyol's 2-1 win at Patrick Owomoyela's Bremen in the 2006/07 UEFA Cup semi-final.
• Maicon was in the Inter team that beat Bayern 2-0 in the 2010 UEFA Champions League final.
• Kompany's Belgium lost 3-1 to a Germany side including Mats Hummels, Marco Reus and İlkay Gündoğan in a UEFA EURO 2012 qualifier in Dusseldorf in October 2011.
• Hummels and Reus played in Germany's 2-1 loss to Italy in the UEFA EURO 2012 semi-finals, Mario Balotelli scoring twice. Marcel Schmelzer, Mario Götze and Gündoğan were unused substitutes for Germany.
• Sergio Agüero and Zabaleta helped Argentina to a 3-1 friendly win in August against a Germany team including Hummels, Reus, Gündoğan, Schmelzer and Götze.
• Perišić played for Croatia in their 1-1 draw with Balotelli's Italy and their 1-0 loss to David Silva's Spain at UEFA EURO 2012. More recently he scored in Croatia's 1-1 draw at Kompany's Belgium in 2012 FIFA World Cup qualifying.
• Piszczek and Robert Lewandowski faced Hart, Joleon Lescott and James Milner as Poland and England drew 1-1 in World Cup qualifying in October.
• Jack Rodwell, Milner and Richards were in the England side beaten 4-0 by Hummels and Schmelzer's Germany in the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final.
• Neven Subotić is a Serbia team-mate of Matija Nastasić and Aleksandar Kolarov.