Atletico braced for Ronaldo visit, PSG out to continue home form - Champions League in Opta numbers

Cristiano Ronaldo will look to continue his tormenting of Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, while Paris Saint-Germain host Real Madrid.

Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo.

Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid begin their respective Champions League campaigns with huge tests against Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus in the pick of Wednesday's action.

Atletico will be smarting from last season's 3-2 aggregate defeat to Juve in the round of 16, when Cristiano Ronaldo – a consistent nemesis of it during his time in La Liga – netted a hat-trick in a 3-0 second-leg win to see the Old Lady into the quarter-finals.

Madrid gets started away to PSG, which will be aiming to continue its fine run at home in the group stage despite being without Neymar, Kylian Mbappe and Edinson Cavani.

Last term's beaten finalist Tottenham, Premier League champion Manchester City and German giant Bayern Munich is also in action.

Below, we have highlighted the key data ahead of Wednesday's contests.

Club Brugge vs Galatasaray

4 - After losing its first two matches in the 2018-19 Champions League, Club Brugge remained undefeated in its final four (W1 D3) – should it avoid a loss in this match, it will be the best unbeaten run by a Belgian side in the competition took on its current format in 1992.

12 - Galatasaray's new striker Radamel Falcao has scored 12 goals in the Champions League, just one goal off the record by a Colombian player in the competition: Jackson Martinez with 13.

 

Paris Saint-Germain vs Real Madrid

21- PSG is unbeaten in 21 Champions League home games in the group stage (W15 D6), not losing since December 2004 against CSKA Moscow (1-3). 

1.97 - Real Madrid has averaged the most goals per game (2.13) in Champions League history. PSG is third on 1.97, with Barcelona the only club separating it in the rankings (2.02).

 

Olympiacos vs Tottenham

8 - Olympiacos is winless in eight Champions League matches (D1 L7) since a 2-1 win against Dinamo Zagreb in November 2015. It is their joint-longest winless run in the competition alongside a streak that ended in October 2003.

50 - Mauricio Pochettino's will oversee his 50th European game as manager of Spurs on Wednesday. Only Bill Nicholson (55) has presided over more for the club.

 

Bayern Munich vs Red Star Belgrade

36 - Robert Lewandowski has scored 36 goals in just 52 Champions League appearances for Bayern – only Thomas Muller has scored more for the club in the competition (42 goals in 105 games).

17 -  Red Star conceded more goals in the group stage of the 2018-19 Champions League than any other team (17).

 

Dinamo Zagreb vs Atalanta

11 - Dinamo Zagreb has lost its last 11 consecutive Champions League matches, its joint-worst run in the competition. Only Anderlecht has lost 12 successive matches in Europe's elite competition, that run coming between December 2003 and November 2005.

3 - Just three of the nine Italian clubs to have participated in the Champions League before Atalanta have won their opening match in the competition: AC Milan in 1992, Juventus in 1995 and Udinese in 2005.

 

Shakhtar Donetsk vs Manchester City

79 - Excluding own goals, 79 of Shakhtar's 124 Champions League goals have been scored by Brazilians (64 per cent) – only Barcelona (85) has seen more goals scored by Brazilians than Shakhtar, while Braga (11-12 – 92%) is the only team to have had a higher proportion of goals scored by players from Brazil.

124 - Gabriel Jesus scored a hat-trick for City in its last meeting against Shakhtar in November last year, inspiring a 6-0 win. Of the 73 Brazilians to have scored four or more goals in the Champions League, Jesus has the best minutes-per-goal (124) ratio.

 

Atletico Madrid vs Juventus

54 - Atletico will be competing in its first Champions League season without Antoine Griezmann since 2013-14. He scored or assisted 54 per cent of its goals in the competitions (19 goals, 7 assists) between September 2015 and March 2019 before leaving this year for Barcelona.

25 - Juventus star Ronaldo has scored 25 goals in his career against Atletico, having tormented it regularly in derbies with Madrid and netted a hat-trick last term for the Bianconeri. Only against Sevilla (27) has he scored more in all competitions.

 

Bayer Leverkusen vs Lokomotiv Moscow

0 - Bayer Leverkusen coach Peter Bosz has yet to win a Champions League game as a manager (D2 L4, with Dortmund). Each of Leverkusen's past four managers have failed to win their first Champions League match in charge.

7 - Lokomotiv forward Jefferson Farfan will be looking to score in his seventh different Champions League campaign (2004-05, 2005-06, 2007-08, 2010-11, 2012-13 and 2018-19). The only Peruvian to have scored in more seasons is Claudio Pizarro (eight).