Benfica, who face Dynamo Kiev in Group E’s other clash, hold the head-to-head edge over Xavi’s new side as Barca travel to Germany knowing they likely need a win to make it through to the next round.
Manchester United and Chelsea are already through their respective groups, while Juventus host Malmo with the Bianconeri’s place in the last-16 sealed before the final matchday as well.
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As Robert Lewandowski and Cristiano Ronaldo edge towards more records, Stats Perform takes a look at the key Opta data heading into the games taking place on Wednesday.
Bayern Munich v Barcelona: Blaugrana face thankless task to qualify
Bayern have won their last three Champions League meetings with Barca, which is already the longest run against the Blaugrana in European history by any side.
Julian Nagelsmann’s team, who have averaged five goals per home game in this season’s competition, have cruised through to the next round, while Barca could fall to their second-worst performance in terms of points if they fail to avoid defeat.
The visitors will have to deal with Lewandowski, who is the top scorer in the group stage with nine goals and the Poland forward could become the only player in history to net 10-plus times in the group stage on multiple occasions. Ronaldo (11 in 2015-16) and Lionel Messi (10 in 2016-17) are the only other players to have achieved this once.
Zenit v Chelsea: Blues edge towards more defensive milestones
Chelsea could become just the second English team, after Manchester United in 2003-04 and 2010-11 to win four consecutive games in the competition while keeping a clean sheet on each occasion.
Indeed, with a clean sheet the Blues and Thomas Tuchel could become the fastest team and manager combination to reach 10 shutouts in the competition, having already recorded nine in just 12 games since the German’s appointment.
The defending champions have also had 14 different scorers, excluding own goals, the most of any team in the Champions League since Tuchel’s Blues bow in Europe.
Manchester United v Young Boys: Ronaldo looks to repeat history
Ronaldo has scored in all five of his Champions League appearances since returning to United (six goals), while Bruno Fernandes boasts the most assists in the competition so far this term (five).
Portugal captain Ronaldo will be looking to repeat the feat of scoring in all six group stage games in a single campaign, having previously done so for Real Madrid in 2017-18 – the only previous instance of this in the competition’s history.
Worryingly for Young Boys, who never kept a clean sheet in 11 attempts in the competition, the Swiss side have lost their last six away games between 1986 and 2021, last tasting European Cup/Champions League victory in August 1960.
Juventus v Malmo: Bianconeri aim to match record home dominance
Juve have won each of their last five Champions League home matches, only registering more consecutive such victories in a run of six between December 2016 and 2017.
While the Bianconeri did suffer their heaviest defeat in the history of the competition against Chelsea, Juve have a perfect record against Malmo in their opening three games – only Barca have ever won their opening four games against a specific opponent in the competitions.
Meanwhile, Malmo have only managed one win in their last eight against Italian opponents in the European Cup/Champions League, with their lone triumph against Inter in September 1989.
Other fixtures:
Atalanta v Villarreal:
21 – There have been 21 goals scored in Atalanta’s five games against Spanish opponents in the Champions League (11 goals for, 10 against), at an average of 4.2 per game. Only one of these five games have seen a team manage to keep a clean sheet, with Real Madrid doing so in a 1-0 victory back in February.
1 – Villarreal have won just one of their eight visits to Italian opponents in major European competition (D3 L4), though it came in their most recent such outing, defeating Roma 1-0 in the Europa League in 2016-17.
Benfica v Dynamo Kiev:
4 – Since losing their first ever meeting with Dynamo Kiev in European competition (0-1 in November 1991), Benfica are unbeaten in four games against the Ukrainian side (W3 D1), with all four coming in the European Cup/Champions League.
60 – Dynamo Kiev have lost 60 per cent of their away matches in the competition, only Olympiakos (75) and Galatasaray (71) have lost a larger percentage out of teams to have played at least 50 such games.
Red Bull Salzburg v Sevilla:
5 – Red Bull Salzburg are winless in their last five fixtures against Spanish opposition in the Champions League and have only won one of their last 11 meetings against such sides.
3 – Sevilla’s Ivan Rakitic has managed three goal involvements in his side’s five goals in the competition, despite only starting two games – only for Barca in 2015-16 did he record more (four).
Wolfsburg v Lille:
5 – Wolfsburg have gone unbeaten in their last five games against French opponents in European competition (W2 D3) after previously going eight games without recording a victory against French teams across all competitions (D3 L5).
8 – Lille have claimed eight points from their opening five games and could equal, or improve on, their best ever return in a group stage in the competition – nine points in 2006-07, where they qualified with a second-place finish.
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