Football Media

Artemio Franchi, Florence
Tuesday 9 March 2010 – 20.45CET (20.45 local time)
First knockout round, second leg

After a stunning victory at Juventus in their last European away game, FC Bayern München will hope to hit the heights again when they return to Italy to take on ACF Fiorentina with a quarter-final place at stake.

• Facing a win-or-bust scenario, Bayern won 4-1 at Juventus in December to reach the last 16 but Louis van Gaal’s men may need to emulate that display to get the better of a Fiorentina side with a 100% home record in the UEFA Champions League group stage.
• This time round, Bayern do have a lead to defend having won 2-1 in Germany on 17 February thanks to Miroslav Klose’s 89th-minute winner after Per Krøldrup (50) had cancelled out Arjen Robben’s penalty opener in first-half added time.

Previous meetings
• Bayern prevailed 3-0 when the clubs met for the first time on 21 October 2008, Miroslav Klose (4), Bastian Schweinsteiger (25) and Zé Roberto (90) getting the goals.
• The teams drew 1-1 in the return at the Stadio Artemio Franchi on 5 November. Adrian Mutu gave the Viola an 11th-minute lead but they were denied a victory when Tim Borowski equalised after 78 minutes. Bayern finished as group winners while Fiorentina had to wait until Matchday 6 for their only victory of that campaign.
• The lineups for that meeting in Florence were:
Fiorentina: Frey, Zauri, Gamberini, Dainelli, Gobbi, Melo, Kuzmanovi? (Osvaldo 79), Montolivo, Santana (Almirón 63), Mutu, Gilardino.
Bayern: Rensing, Oddo, Lucio, Demichelis, Zé Roberto, Van Bommel, Borowski, Schweinsteiger (Kroos 79), Ribéry, Klose, Podolski (Ottl 89).

Match background
• While Bayern are seeking a second successive quarter-final appearance, Fiorentina have not reached the last eight of UEFA’s elite club competition since 1970.
• Fiorentina had a 100% winning record at home in the group stage, beating Liverpool FC, Debreceni VSC and Olympique Lyonnais.
• Bayern took six points on their travels in the group stage – beating Maccabi Haifa FC and Juventus and losing at FC Girondins de Bordeaux – and make the trip to Italy having won seven and lost only three of their last 13 away fixtures in the UEFA Champions League.
• Van Gaal’s side overwhelmed Juventus 4-1 on 8 December, prevailing through goals from Hans-Jörg Butt, Ivica Oli?, Mario Gómez and Anatoliy Tymoshchuk to secure second place in Group A and extend their unbeaten run on Italian soil to four matches.
• Bayern won the 2001 UEFA Champions League final at San Siro in Milan, beating Valencia CF on penalties after a 1-1 draw.
• In 1989/90 Fiorentina qualified for the UEFA Cup final by following a 1-1 draw at Werder Bremen with a goalless draw in Italy to advance on away goals.
• Cesare Prandelli’s men are hoping to avoid the fate of the last sides to enter the first knockout round on the back of five straight wins, namely FC Internazionale Milano FC and Sevilla FC in 2007/08. Both lost in the last 16.
• Bayern have taken a first-leg lead at home on 44 occasions in UEFA competition and have won the tie 36 times, most recently against CF Os Belenenses in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup first round (1-0 home, 2-0 away). The last of those eight aggregate defeats came in the 2001/02 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals against Real Madrid CF (2-1
home, 0-2 away).
• Fiorentina have overturned a first-leg away defeat only twice in seven attempts, most recently in the 1989/90 UEFA Cup first round when they eliminated Club Atlético de Madrid on penalties after each side had won their home game 1-0.

Team ties
• Van Gaal got the better of Fiorentina with FC Barcelona in the 1999/2000 UEFA Champions League group stage. The Dutchman oversaw a 4-2 home victory against the Viola in September 1999, before a 3-3 draw in Florence two months later.
• Van Gaal has twice faced Italian opposition in the UEFA Champions League final. In 1995 his AFC Ajax team overcame AC Milan 1-0, before losing the following season’s showpiece to Juventus after a penalty shoot-out.
• Van Gaal had previously guided Ajax to victory against Torino FC in the 1992 UEFA Cup final.
• Bayern goalkeeper Butt’s goal against Juventus on Matchday 6 was his third against the Bianconeri in Europe. He converted a spot-kick for Hamburger SV in a 4-4 draw in 2000/01 and another for Bayer 04 Leverkusen in a 3-1 win the following season.
• In 2006 Alberto Gilardino appeared as a substitute in Italy’s 2-0 FIFA World Cup semi-final win against a Germany team including Klose, Philipp Lahm and Schweinsteiger.
• Gilardino tasted semi-final defeat when Milan lost out to a Barcelona side including Mark van Bommel in the 2005/06 UEFA Champion League semi-final.
• The following campaign, Gilardino was part of the Milan team that got the better of Bayern at the quarter-final stage despite two goals from Daniel Van Buyten at San Siro.
• Mutu featured as a second-half substitute in former club Juventus’s 2-1 loss at Bayern in the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League group stage. He was a late substitute in the return in Turin when Juve won by the same scoreline.
• Stefan Effenberg played for both Bayern – with whom he won the 2000/01 UEFA Champions League – and Fiorentina. Effenberg joined the Viola in 1992 from Bayern, returning to the Bavarian giants in 1998.
• Luca Toni spent two free-scoring seasons with Fiorentina from 2005-07 before moving on to Bayern. He joined AS Roma on loan in January.

Arsenal Stadium, London
Tuesday 9 March 2010 – 20.45CET (19.45 local time)
First knockout round, second leg

FC Porto will not want to dwell on their last trip to the Arsenal Stadium before the UEFA Champions League first knockout round tie return. They lost 4-0, continuing a run of disappointing results in England where they have failed to win in 13 visits.

• Porto at least have a slender lead to protect this time round thanks to goals from Silvestre Varela (11) and Falcao (51) at the Estádio do Dragão, although Sol Campbell’s away goal (18) could yet prove crucial.
• History is also against Arsenal, however, who have managed to overturn a first-leg away defeat in UEFA competition only once in nine previous attempts.

Previous meetings
• The heavy defeat – Porto’s worst away reverse in the competition – came in last season’s group stage as Robin van Persie and Emmanuel Adebayor both scored a goal in each half.
• The teams for that 30 September 2008 fixture were:
Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Gallas, Touré, Clichy, Nasri (Eboué 65), Fàbregas, Walcott (Vela 72), Denilson, Van Persie (Bendtner 65), Adebayor.
Porto: Helton, Bruno Alves, Benítez, Fredy Guarín, Lisandro, Rodríguez (Candeias 79), Rolando, Raul Meireles (Hulk 64), Costa, S?punaru, Fernando (Lucho 46).
• Goals either side of half-time from Bruno Alves and Lisandro earned Porto a 2-0 win at home.
• The teams for that 10 December 2008 encounter were:
Porto: Helton, Bruno Alves, Pedro Emanuel, Lucho (Costa 78), Lisandro, Rodríguez (Mariano 78), Hulk (Guarín 88), ucile, Rolando, Raul Meireles, Fernando.
Arsenal: Almunia, Diaby (Gibbs 60), Gallas, Vela, Denilson, Ramsey (Wilshere 59), Song (Randall 79), Silvestre, Djourou, Bendtner, Eboué.
• Arsenal’s only other meeting with Porto in north London came in the 2006/07 group stage, the home team running out 2-0 winners. Fàbregas, Tomáš Rosický, Gallas, Van Persie and Eboué all started for Arsenal with Song and Walcott appearing as second-half substitutes. Almunia was also on the bench. For Porto, Helton and Bruno Alves were in the starting XI while Raul Meireles came on in the second half. Fucile was also on the bench.

Match background
• Arsenal finished on top of Group H having won all three home games, conceding just a single goal, in a 4-1 defeat of AZ Alkmaar. They beat both runners-up Olympiacos FC and R. Standard de Liège 2-0.
• Prior to their meetings with Porto, Arsenal had faced Portuguese opposition only once before in UEFA club competition, when they exited the European Champion Clubs’ Cup in 1991/92 at the hands of SL Benfica. After a 1-1 draw in Lisbon, the Gunners suffered a 3-1 extra-time loss in the deciding leg of the second-round tie.
• This is the tenth successive campaign in which Arsenal have advanced from the initial group stage. Last season they reached the semi-finals before bowing out to Manchester United FC, losing 1-0 away and 3-1 at home. In the first knockout round they edged out AS Roma on penalties after both legs had ended 1-0 to the home side.
• It is the sixth time in seven consecutive group-stage campaigns that Porto – who finished second in Group D, two points behind Chelsea FC – have reached the knockout rounds. Last season they also bowed out to Manchester United, in the quarter-finals, after a 1-0 defeat at Estádio do Dragão having drawn 2-2 at Old Trafford. In the first knockout round they eliminated Club Atlético de Madrid on away goals, drawing 2-2 in Spain and 0-0 at home.
• Porto have finished second best in five of their last six knockout ties with English opponents. The exception came at Old Trafford in the 2003/04 first knockout round when José Mourinho’s team gained a 1-1 draw after winning the home leg 2-1.
• Porto have lost all six games in London, most recently in this season’s group stage with a 1-0 reverse at Chelsea. Their other two away games produced wins – 1-0 at APOEL FC and 3-0 away to Atlético.
• Porto have a strong record when winning the first leg at home, going through on aggregate 31 times including the last 24 ties in which they have travelled defending an advantage. The most recent of their four defeats came against Grasshopper-Club in the 1980/81 UEFA Cup second round (2-0 home, 0-3 away).
• Ominously for Arsenal, they have managed to prevail only once in the nine UEFA club competition ties in which they lost the first leg away from home, defeating HNK Hajduk Split on away goals in the 1978/79 UEFA Cup second round after a 2-1 away loss was followed by a 1-0 home win. Three recent UEFA Champions League campaigns have been ended following an away defeat; against FC Bayern München in 2004/05 (1-3 away, 1-0 home), PSV Eindhoven in 2006/07 (0-1 away, 1-1 home) and Manchester United FC last season (0-1 away, 1-3 home).

Team ties
• Wenger was in charge of AS Monaco FC for their 1-1 draw at CF Os Belenenses in the first round of the 1989/90 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup, the French club winning the return 3-0.
• Samir Nasri was in the Olympique de Marseille side defeated 2-1 at Porto in the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League group stage.
• In December 2004 Nuno helped Porto to a 2-1 victory against a Chelsea team featuring Gallas in the UEFA Champions League group stage.
• Bruno Alves and Raul Meireles played in Portugal’s 2-0 loss against Switzerland in UEFA EURO 2008 Group A fixture. Johan Djourou was an unused substitute for the co-hosts.
• Nicklas Bendtner scored Denmark’s first goal in a 3-2 FIFA World Cup qualifying win against Portugal in September 2008. Raul Meireles played for the home team who managed a 1-1 draw in the Copenhagen return a year later. Bendtner was again on target in a game with Raul Meireles and Bruno Alves in the Portugal team.
• Cristián Rodríguez was a late substitute in París Saint-Germain FC’s 4-1 win against an AJ Auxerre side featuring Sagna in March 2006, seven months before they faced each other again in a goalless draw between the teams.
• In February 2007 Rodríguez’s PSG drew 1-1 at the Stade Vélodrome against an Olympique de Marseille including Nasri in Ligue 1.

Stadio Olimpico, Turin
Thursday 25 February 2010 – 21.05CET (21.05 local time)
Round of 32, second leg

Juventus hold a 2-1 lead as they welcome AFC Ajax to Turin for the decisive leg of their UEFA Europa League round of 32 tie, with the Amsterdam side needing a first win away to the Bianconeri to have any chance of progress.

• After Miralem Sulejmani (17) gave Ajax the lead at the Amsterdam ArenA, Amauri (32, 58) turned the game around, though Hasan Salihamidži?’s late dismissal took some of the gloss off the result for Juve.

Previous meetings
• Ajax and Juventus are meeting for the 12th time. The Dutch side have come off worse in the previous fixtures, with two wins to Juve’s six. Ajax have not won in four previous away games against the Bianconeri, drawing one and losing three.
• Their two most famous encounters came in the finals of the European Champion Clubs’ Cup in 1973 and 1996.
• The clubs’ European Cup final showdown in Belgrade on 30 May 1973 was their first meeting – and Johnny Rep’s fourth-minute goal handed Stefan Kovács’s Ajax side their third consecutive continental crown, meaning they got to keep the trophy.
• Dismissed as Juventus coach in January, Ciro Ferrara was in the Bianconeri lineup when they gained revenge in the 1996 UEFA Champions League final in Rome. After a 1-1 draw over 120 minutes, the Turin side won 4-2 on penalties, with Ferrara converting his team’s first spot kick.
• Juve had previously beaten Ajax on away goals in the third round of the 1974/75 UEFA Cup and then 3-0 on penalties in the 1977/78 European Cup quarter-finals after two 1-1 draws.
• Ferrara enjoyed further success against the Amsterdam outfit in the 1996/97 UEFA Champions League semi-finals, where Juve prevailed 6-2 on aggregate prior to a 3-1 final defeat by BV Borussia Dortmund in Munich.
• The clubs’ most recent meeting came in the 2004/05 UEFA Champions League group stage, when Fabio Capello’s Juve recorded 1-0 home and away wins against Ronald Koeman’s Ajax.
• The lineups for their last encounter in Turin on 23 November 2004 were:
Juventus: Buffon, Tacchinardi, Montero, Emerson, Ibrahimovi? (Kapo, 77), Nedv?d, Birindelli (Cannavaro, 85), Camoranesi (Olivera, 70), Zambrotta, Thuram, Zalayeta.
Ajax: Vonk, Trabelsi, Escudé, Maxwell, Galásek, Rosales, Van der Vaart, De Jong (Sneijder, 70), Grygera*, Boukhari (Mitea, 59), Babel (Anastasiou, 79).
*now a Juventus player

Match background
• In total, Ajax have played 38 games against Italian clubs with the record W11 D11 L16 (W3 D4 L10 in Italy). Juve’s record from 17 games against Dutch opposition is W8 D4 L5 (W5 D1 L1 in Turin).
• Ajax have appeared in the round of 32 in four of the last six campaigns. They were eliminated at this stage by AJ Auxerre in 2005/06 and Werder Bremen in 2006/07 but progressed to the last 16 at the expense of an ACF Fiorentina side featuring Juventus’s Felipe Melo last season.
• Ajax are unbeaten in four away games this season (three wins and a draw), and have lost only once in their last seven European fixtures on the road.
• Juventus last played in the UEFA Cup – now the UEFA Europa League – almost ten years ago, losing 4-1 on aggregate to RC Celta de Vigo in the fourth round in early March 2000.
• Prior to a 4-1 defeat by FC Bayern München in their most recent UEFA Champions League home fixture, Juventus were unbeaten in 18 European home games – a run which stretched back to 2004.

Team facts
• New Juventus boss Alberto Zaccheroni took on Ajax as coach of Udinese Calcio in the second round of the 1997/98 UEFA Cup, with his side winning 2-1 at home but losing the tie on away goals with a 1-0 defeat in Amsterdam.
• Czech defender Zden?k Grygera played for Ajax in their last tie against Juventus before moving to the Turin club on a free transfer in summer 2007.
• Ajax’s on-loan Brazilian striker Kerlon boasts some experience of Serie A football, having represented AC Chievo Verona last season prior to joining FC Internazionale Milano.
• Ajax beat Juve’s city rivals Torino FC on away goals following a 2-2 aggregate draw to win the 1991/92 UEFA Cup final.
• Juventus playmaker Diego scored for Werder when they beat a Hamburger SV side coached by Ajax boss Martin Jol in last season’s UEFA Cup semi-final – Diego hit Bremen’s first goal as they overturned a 1-0 first-leg deficit with a 3-2 win at Hamburg.
• Fabio Cannavaro and Alessandro Del Piero were in the Italy side which beat the Netherlands 3-1 on penalties following a 0-0 draw at the Amsterdam ArenA in the UEFA EURO 2000 semi-finals.
• Ajax’s Luis Suárez had more shots on goal than any other player in the group stage, 26 in total. The Uruguayan scored just twice, and notably had two penalties saved in his side’s 2-1 win against FC Timi?oara.
• The winners of this tie will face the victors of the contest between Fulham FC and FC Shakhtar Donetsk in the round of 16 on 11 and 18 March, playing the first leg at home.

Penalties
• As mentioned above, two previous games between Juventus and Ajax have been settled on penalties, with the Turin side winning 3-0 on spot kicks in a 1977/78 European Cup quarter-final and 4-2 in the 1995/96 European Cup final.
• Juventus’s six continental penalty shoot-outs have ended in three wins and three defeats. Ajax are the only European side they have beaten on spot kicks, with their other success coming against Argentinos Juniors in the 1985 European/South American Cup.
• Ajax have been involved in five continental shoot-outs overall, losing all but one. Their only success came against Brazilian side Grêmio FBPA in the 1995 European/South American Cup game in Tokyo, as they prevailed 4-3.

Ajax
Suspended: Luis Suárez
Misses next match if booked: Miralem Sulejmani, Jan Vertonghen
Players added to squad: Hyun Jun Suk, Nicolás Lodeiro, Nathaniel Will
Players removed from squad: Bruno Silva, Dario Cvitanich, Kerlon, Daley Blind, Jeffrey Sarpong

Juventus
Suspended: Hasan Salihamidži?
Misses next match if booked: Mauro Camoranesi, Nicola Legrottaglie, Claudio Marchisio Felipe Melo
Players added to squad: Antonio Candreva, Michele Paolucci
Players removed from squad: Cristian Molinaro, Tiago, Lorenzo Ariaudo

Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow
Wednesday 24 February 2010 – 18.30CET (20.30 local time)
First knockout round, first leg

PFC CSKA Moskva, who are breaking new ground with a place in the UEFA Champions League knockout rounds, face a difficult test in hosting a Sevilla FC side who have shown in their two campaigns that mixing with the cream of Europe holds no fears for them.

Match background
• The Moscow club qualified for the group stage of the inaugural UEFA Champions League in 1992/93 having won through the first two rounds, but in their four subsequent campaigns this is the first time they have progressed from their section.
• Leonid Slutski’s side achieved their place with a dramatic 2-1 victory at Besiktas JK on Matchday 6 to finish as Group B runners-up, three points behind Manchester United FC and three ahead of VfL Wolfsburg. It was CSKA’s third victory after home wins against Wolfsburg and Besiktas. In the Luzhniki Stadium they also suffered a 1-0 loss to United.
• The Army Men last faced Spanish opposition 14 months ago when they saw off RC Deportivo La Coruña 3-0 in the UEFA Cup group stage in Moscow. Their only other meeting with visitors from Spain was a 1-1 UEFA Champions League draw against FC Barcelona on 21 October 1992, CSKA knocking the reigning European champions out with a 3-2 win in the Camp Nou reverse.
• Sevilla faced Premier-Liga opposition on three occasions in 2005/06 en route to the first of their successive UEFA Cup triumphs. They lost 2-1 at FC Zenit St. Petersburg in the group stage before beating FC Lokomotiv Moskva away (1-0) and home (2-0) in the round of 32. In the quarter-finals they exacted revenge on Zenit with a 5-2 aggregate win, the away leg ending 1-1.
• The Andalusian club suceeded CSKA – who became the first Russian side to claim European silverware in 2005 – as UEFA Cup winners.
• This time round, Sevilla won Group G by a four-point margin, losing only at FC Unirea Urziceni on Matchday 5 with qualification already assured. They triumphed at Rangers FC (4-1) and VfB Stuttgart (3-1) and have lost only three of their 14 matches in the UEFA Champions League proper so far, all the defeats coming away from home.
• In their previous UEFA Champions League campaign, the Spanish side exited the competition at this stage against Fenerbahçe SK. After losing the first leg 3-2 away, they managed to win the return by the same score only to go out on penalties.

Team ties
• Juande Ramos, who led Sevilla to their twin UEFA Cup triumphs, spent six weeks as CSKA head coach last autumn.
• Ivica Dragutinovi? and Miloš Krasi? are team-mates in the Serbian national team.
• Igor Akinfeev, Sergei Ignashevich plus Aleksei and Vasili Berezutski all featured for Russia against Spain at UEFA EURO 2008, Spain winning 4-1 in Group D and 3-0 in the semi-finals. Akinfeev and Ignashevich played in both games while both Berezutski brothers remained on the bench along with Andres Palop and Fernando Navarro for their opponents.
• Mark González has had spells at Albacete Balompié, Real Sociedad de Fútbol and Real Betis Balompie.
• Marius Stankevicius played for Lithuania in a 4-3 defeat by Russia in a Moscow friendly in August 2004.
• Dragutinovic and Krasic played for Serbia in a 3-0 FIFA World Cup qualifying victory against a Lithuania side containing Deividas Šemberas and Stankevi?ius on 11 October 2008. Dragutinovi?, Krasi? and Stankevi?ius also appeared in the reverse fixture, won 2-1 by Lithuania on 14 October 2009.
• Luis Fabiano scored twice for Brazil in a 3-0 victory against a Chile side including González in a World Cup qualifier on 7 September 2008.
• Alvaro Negredo scored twice for Spain in a 5-2 victory against Bosnia-Herzegovina in a World Cup qualifying tie in Zenica on 14 October 2009. Elvir Rahimic was on the opposing side as he had been when Bosnia-Herzegovina lost 1-0 in Murcia a year earlier, when Diego Capel lined up for the hosts.
• Russia forward Aleksandr Kerzhakov was at Sevilla from January 2007 to February 2008, winning the UEFA Cup, Copa del Rey and Spanish Super Cup.