UCL PREVIEW: City face familiar foe Bayern

Manchester City face a daunting trip to the Allianz Arena to face Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich on Wednesday night in their opening UEFA Champions League game.

For the second successive season, both sides have been drawn in the same group, while this is their fifth encounter since September 2011.

Chelsea begin their quest for a second UCL crown with the visit of Schalke 04 to Stamford Bridge, the same side they beat 3-0 home and away in last season’s group stage.

Four-time European Cup winners Ajax open their Group F campaign against ambitious Paris Saint-Germain looking to improve on recent early exits.

Luis Enrique makes his European coaching bow as Barcelona host Cypriot champions APOEL at the Camp Nou.

Below are the match backgrounds to the key games on Wednesday.

BAYERN vs CITY

• The German title holders made a third consecutive UCL semi-final appearance last term, losing to Real Madrid.

• Bayern eliminated Arsenal (3-1 agg) in the last 16 and City’s neighbours Manchester United FC (4-2 agg) in the quarter-finals. The second-leg win over United was the first victory in Bayern’s last five matches with English opposition in Bavaria – including the 2012 final defeat against Chelsea.

• Bayern’s overall home record against English teams is W11 D6 L3.

• City reached the UCL knockout stage for the first time in 2013/14, losing to Barcelona in the last 16.

• They won all three away matches in the group stage, at FC Viktoria Plzen (3-0), CSKA Moscow (2-1) and Bayern (3-2).

• Their overall record away to Bundesliga opposition is W2 D0 L5.

CHELSEA vs SCHALKE

• Chelsea’s overall record against Bundesliga opponents is W9 D4 L4. They overcame Bayern Munich in the 2011/12 UCL final, winning 4-3 on penalties after a 1-1 draw, but lost 5-4 on spot kicks after a 2-2 draw when they met in the UEFA Super Cup in August 2013.

• The win last November extended Chelsea’s home record against German visitors to seven games without defeat (six wins, one draw); they have never lost at home to a Bundesliga club.

• In only one of these home matches did their opponents manage to score: the 2004/05 quarter-final when Bayern were beaten 4-2.

• Chelsea’s defeat by FC Basel a year ago was their first on match-day one after eight wins and three draws. It was also Jose Mourinho’s first reverse on opening night; his 10 previous fixtures with FC Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid brought him seven wins and three draws.

• It was Chelsea’s first loss in 30 home group stage matches since Besiktas’s 2-0 victory on October 1, 2003.

• Chelsea, in their 13th group stage campaign and 12th in a row, have won their section in eight of their last 11 campaigns, qualifying as runners-up in two other years.

• Mourinho lifted the UCL with Porto (2004) and Inter (2010) and is bidding to become the first head coach to win the European Cup with three different teams.

• Mourinho has never lost a home game against German opposition (W5 D2).

• Schalke’s 2-0 win at Arsenal in the 2012/13 group stage, with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar on target, was their first on English soil after four defeats and a draw.

• Last year’s Stamford Bridge game was Schalke’s only defeat in their last eight away UCL group fixtures; they have won four and drawn three of the others. They recorded a win and a draw in their other group away games 12 months ago.

• The Royal Blues are appearing in their seventh UCL group stage foray, reaching the knockout rounds in each of the last four. They were eliminated in last season’s round-of-16 by eventual winners Real Madrid, losing 3-1 away and 9-2 on aggregate.

AJAX vs PSG

• The Dutch champions will be looking to survive the group stage for the first time since 2005/06. In each of the last four seasons, they have finished third in their group.

• At home in the UCL last term, Frank de Boer’s men held AC Milan (1-1) and beat Celtic (1-0) and Barcelona (2-1). They then lost 3-0 to Salzburg in Amsterdam en route to a 6-1 aggregate loss in the UEFA Europa League round of 32.

• Ajax’s home record against French sides is W6 D2 L2.

• This season marks the 20th anniversary of Ajax’s last UEFA Champions League triumph.

• This is the first visit to the Netherlands for PSG, whose only previous encounter with Eredivisie opposition was a 4-0 home win over FC Twente in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup group stage.

• PSG kicked off last season with an emphatic away victory – 4-1 at Olympiacos FC – and ended up winning three of their five matches on the road, scoring 14 times away from home in total.

• They reached the quarter-finals for the second successive season in 2013/14, losing to Chelsea on away goals.

BARCELONA vs APOEL

• Luis Enrique won the 1996/97 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup with Barcelona as a player, but this will be the first time he has coached the Blaugrana in European competition.

• Under Gerardo Martino, Barcelona finished second in La Liga in 2013/14 and reached the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, losing to eventual runners-up, Atletico Madrid.

• Last season was the first time Barcelona had failed to reach the semi-finals or beyond since 2006/07.

• Barcelona have lost just one of their last 27 home UCL matches – including four wins and a draw last term.

• They have faced Cypriot opposition twice before – both times in the first round of the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup. They beat Apollon Limassol in 1982/83 (9-1 agg) and AEK Larnaca in 1996/97 (2-0 agg), with Luis Enrique playing in the latter tie.

• APOEL are competing in the group stage for the third time, having reached the quarter-finals on their last appearance in 2011/12.

• For Giorgos Donis, this is the first UCL campaign as coach, but his team emerged unbeaten through the qualifying rounds, overcoming HJK Helsinki (4-2 agg) and Aalborg BK (5-1 agg).

• APOEL took just one point on their travels in the 2013/14 UEFA Europa League and were eliminated after the group stage.

• Their only previous trip to Barcelona brought a 1-0 defeat at Espanyol in the 1996/97 UEFA Cup first round.

FULL FIXTURES

Group E

Bayern Munich v Manchester City

Roma v CSKA Moscow

Group F

Ajax v PSG

Barcelona v APOEL

Group G

Chelsea v Schalke

Maribor v Sporting Lisbon

Group H

Athletic Bilbao v Shakhtar Donetsk

Porto v BATE Borisov