Inter and Barcelona set for blockbuster at Camp Nou – Champions League in Opta numbers

By Sports Desk October 12, 2022

Inter have a chance to become the first Italian side to ever beat Barcelona twice in a Champions League campaign when they meet at Camp Nou on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Club Brugge are on the brink of their first trip to the knockout stages as they play Atletico Madrid.

Mohamed Salah can make history with one more Champions League goal for Liverpool on their trip to Scotland to take on Rangers, and Bayern Munich are one win away from their own record as they try to win an 11th consecutive group stage match.

Tottenham will look to break out of a scoring slump when they host Eintracht Frankfurt, while Porto and Bayer Leverkusen are battling it out in Group B.

With plenty of important matchups, Stats Perform has parsed through the data to preview the eight fixtures on Wednesday and shine a light on some of the more interesting angles.

Barcelona v Inter

Inter's 1-0 victory against Barcelona at San Siro last week was their first triumph over the Spanish giants since April 2010, with Barca collecting four wins and one draw since.

With another win, Inter can become the first Italian side to ever beat Barcelona twice in the same Champions League campaign, although they have lost all five of their away fixtures at Camp Nou – their most losses at any away venue in the competition.

In fact, Camp Nou has not been a happy hunting ground for Italian sides in general, with a 3-0 victory for Juventus in 2020 marking the country's only win at the venue in the last 17 tries (L13 D3).

It is not just Barcelona who have given Inter trouble on away days, with their last away win in the Champions League against a Spanish opponent coming back in 2004 against Valencia.

Working in Inter's favour is road warrior Lautaro Martinez, who has scored six of his seven Champions League goals away from home.

Tottenham v Eintracht Frankfurt

After banking four consecutive wins against Borussia Dortmund between 2017 and 2019, Tottenham are now winless in their past five Champions League fixtures against German sides (D1 L4).

On the other side, Eintracht have enjoyed success when travelling to England in European competition, winning both of their previous two attempts – against Arsenal in 2019, and West Ham in April this year – in the Europa League.

However, this is a clear step up from the Europa League, and after winning their first ever Champions League away game last month (1-0 at Marseille), Frankfurt will be looking to become the only German team to ever win their first two away fixtures in the competition.

The 0-0 draw between these two sides in Frankfurt a week ago was the second consecutive Champions League game where Tottenham have failed to score a goal – also losing 2-0 to Sporting. The last time they went three games in the competition without scoring was back in 2011.

Striker Harry Kane will be key, as he boasts the best minutes-per-goal figure – 20 goals in 27 appearances for a goal every 118 minutes – of any English player with at least 10 goals in the Champions League.

Atletico Madrid v Club Brugge

Not many, if any, would have tipped Club Brugge to top Group B ahead of Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen and Porto, but they have defeated all three to lead with a perfect nine points and zero goals conceded.

One more win for Brugge would see them progress past the group stage for the first time, in their 10th Champions League campaign. By defeating Atletico, they would become the first Belgian side since Anderlecht in 2000 to win four games in a row in the competition.

Brugge are also one goal away from matching their highest goal tally from a single Champions League campaign, with eight goals in 2020-21.

Surprisingly, Atletico have struggled at home in the Champions League, snapping a streak of eight games without a win (D5 L3) by defeating Porto this season.

Brugge's Ferran Jutgla has registered a goal and an assist in each of his past two Champions League games, and if he can manage to do it again, he will join Robert Lewandowski and Leroy Sane as the only players since 2003-04 to have a goal and an assist in three straight games in the competition.

Bayer Leverkusen v Porto

With Brugge seemingly cruising, Porto, Leverkusen and Atletico are likely fighting it out for one automatic qualification spot, and Leverkusen will feel good about their chances as Porto are winless in their last seven away games against German teams (D2 L5).

After defeating Atletico at home on the second matchday, Leverkusen will be looking to win consecutive Champions League home fixtures in the same campaign for the first time since 2014.

Patrick Schick is Leverkusen's focal point going forward, attempting more than twice as many shots (12) as any of his team-mates this Champions League season, but he is yet to score, having missed a penalty against Porto in last week's 2-0 loss.

Porto's Mehdi Taremi assisted both goals in the reverse fixture, marking the first time he has been involved in multiple goals in a Champions League game, while the sending-off of Jeremie Frimpong gave Leverkusen their 11th red card in their history in the competition, trailing only Bayern Munich (21) amongst German sides.

Other fixtures:

Napoli v Ajax

5 – Napoli beat Ajax 6-1 in the reverse fixture at Johan Cruyff Arena, with the five-goal margin marking the heaviest defeat Ajax have ever suffered in European competition.

10 – With one more win, Napoli would become the fourth Italian club to ever mount a 10-game unbeaten streak in the Champions League, with six wins and three draws from their past nine fixtures.

Rangers v Liverpool

5 – Rangers have failed to score in their past five European games against English competition, including a 2-0 loss against Liverpool last week.

35 – Mohamed Salah has scored 35 Champions League goals for Liverpool – only Didier Droga (36 for Chelsea) and Sergio Aguero (36 for Manchester City) have scored more for a single Premier League club in the competition.

Sporting v Marseille

9 – Marseille have lost their past nine away fixtures in the Champions League, and with one more loss they would become the sixth team to ever post 10 consecutive away defeats in the competition, and the first from France.

18 – It has been 18 years since Sporting lost a home fixture against a French side in European competition, with that loss coming against Sochaux in the 2004 UEFA Cup.

Viktoria Plzen v Bayern Munich

31 – Bayern Munich are undefeated in their past 31 Champions League group stage matches (28W 3D) – which is an all-time high – and with one more win they will set the new record for consecutive group stage wins with 11.

32 – Viktoria Plzen have faced 32 shots on target in their first three games of this Champions League campaign – more than any other side. In the reverse fixture, Bayern had 13 shots on target.

Related items

  • Sane set for Bayern return after surgery, says Kompany Sane set for Bayern return after surgery, says Kompany

    Leroy Sane is available for Bayern Munich's game at Holstein Kiel after missing their opening two matches following a groin operation.

    Sane featured in all five games for Germany at Euro 2024 before undergoing surgery in July, and also returns in time for the start of Bayern's Champions League campaign at home to Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday.

    "We have a lot of players, and we need all of them. Aside from the long-term injuries, all the players are fit," Kompany told reporters.

    "We've got a week with three matches coming up, and we're looking forward to it. Leroy will also be in the squad."

    Sane also struggled with injuries towards the end of last season, making just one appearance in Bayern's final seven league games, having scored eight goals in their opening nine matches.

    "He had a really good first half of last season and was involved in a lot of goals," Bayern's sporting director Christoph Freund said.

    "In the early part of this year, he had constant battles with injuries and pain, but he battled on and played through it.

    "The nice thing now is that he's pain-free. We're glad he's back and properly fit."

    Bayern face promoted side Kiel, who are in the Bundesliga for the first time, on Saturday, and Kompany knows what it is like to take a side up from the second tier after his time in England with Burnley.

    "I experienced it myself last year. We completely dominated in the second division with Burnley, and then we got promoted to a different league and struggled," Kompany said.

    "But you do all the work for exactly these games and I imagine that Kiel are looking forward to it.

    "They're flexible and good on the ball. They were dominant last season and even though they've been promoted, that's stayed in the team."

  • Hull City 0-2 Sheffield United: Hamer and McCallum goals send Blades third Hull City 0-2 Sheffield United: Hamer and McCallum goals send Blades third

    Sheffield United continued their fine start to the Championship with a comfortable 2-0 win away to Hull City.

    Goals from Gustavo Hamer and Sam McCallum were enough to give Chris Wilder's side victory and send them up to third in the table.

    The home side made an encouraging start to the game but fell behind after a stunning Blades counter-attack, with Callum O'Hare driving forward before playing in Hamer, who gave keeper Ivor Pandur no chance with a neat finish.

    Hull went close to equalising through Abdulkadir Omar's free-kick, but he was thwarted by a flying save from Michael Cooper in the Sheffield United goal.

    The away side doubled their advantage in the second half as substitute McCallum swept in a fine effort from Andre Brooks' cutback.

    Marvin Mehlem nearly handed the Tigers a way back into the encounter, but his header crashed against the crossbar, leaving Hull 19th in the table, still without a league win this campaign.

    Data debrief: Blades make best start in 12 years

    With three wins and two draws under their belt in the Championship, Sheffield United will be proud of how they have adapted to life back in the second tier.

    It marks their best start to a campaign since the 2012-13 season, which saw them go unbeaten in their first 16 games in League One.

    Wilder also continued his good record as Blades boss at MKM stadium, winning a fourth successive match away to Hull after losing in February 2018, in his first spell in charge.

     

     

  • Borussia Dortmund 4-2 Heidenheim: Adeyemi stars with brace to inspire win Borussia Dortmund 4-2 Heidenheim: Adeyemi stars with brace to inspire win

    Karim Adeyemi scored twice and set up another goal as Borussia Dortmund earned a 4-2 victory over visitors Heidenheim on Friday.

    Adeyemi first set up Donyell Malen, who drilled his low shot through Kevin Muller to give the hosts the lead in the 12th minute.

    The 22-year-old then doubled their advantage six minutes later with his first goal after completing a textbook break five minutes later.

    Heidenheim briefly cut the deficit with Marvin Pieringer's powerful header after 39 minutes, but Dortmund restored their two-goal cushion before the break with Adeyemi's low drive wrongfooting the goalkeeper.

    The visitors set up a nervy finish after being awarded a 74th-minute penalty for a foul by Niklas Sule on Mikkel Kaufmann, with Maximilian Breunig confidently hitting the back of the net.

    But Dortmund earned a spot kick themselves in stoppage time thanks to Omar Traore's handball, and Emre Can coolly slotted in to make it 4-2.

    Data Debrief: Home advantage

    While it looked like Dortmund may be in for a nervy ending after Heidenheim's late penalty, that was not the case, and it means they extend an impressive home record.

    The Black and Yellow are unbeaten in 37 Bundesliga home games on a Friday since a 1-0 loss to Schalke in January 2004, which is a league record, level with Werder Bremen between 1984 and 1991). 

    Dortmund are unbeaten so far this campaign, but Heidenheim's six-match winning run in all competitions is now at an end.

© 2024 SportsMaxTV All Rights Reserved.