FC Bayern meet Belgian champions RSC Anderlecht on Tuesday night in the first group match of the new Champions League campaign. The two teams have played each other eight times to date with six ties in Europe's elite club competition. The last encounter was in 2007/08. The UEFA Cup Round of 16 tie saw FCB sail through to the quarter-finals 6-2 on aggregate. fcbayern.com profiles our next opponents.
History:
The Royal Sporting Club from the Brussels suburb of Anderlecht was founded in 1908 and have been members of Belgium's top flight continuously since 1935. The first league title came in 1947, just after the end of the Second World War, and was the first of 33 championship titles, nine domestic Cups and two Belgian Super Cups. RSC are the Belgian record champions.
The club has also been successful on the European stage even if those honours were achieved a long time ago. RSC won the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1976, the UEFA Super Cup in 1978 and the UEFA Cup in 1983. They also reached the finals of the UEFA Cup (1970,1984) and the Cup Winners' Cup (1970, 1990) but have been waiting almost 30 years for more European titles. Last season they reached the quarter-finals of the Europa League.
Champions League record:
In the all-time table of the Champions League, Anderlecht are 35th with 68 points from 76 games (excluding the European Cup). This season, the Belgian record champions are in the group stages for a twelfth time having qualified by winning their 34th championship title last term. RSC have never progressed out of the group stages with the exception of the 2000/01 campaign where they went out in the second group stage ahead of the knockout rounds. Anderlecht have not won in Europe's elite club competition away from home since they beat Betis Sevilla 1-0 in December 2005
Stadium:
Anderlecht play their home games at the Constant Vanden Stock Stadium. The capacity of the ground is 26,000, reduced to 21,000 for European games. Plans are afoot to move to the National Stadium in Brussels in 2019, which has been built for the 2020 European Championships. The capacity of that stadium, home to the Belgian national side, will be 60,000.
Coach:
René Weiler took over as head coach last season. The Swiss manager was previously at FC Nürnberg for two years. Weiler secured the league title in his first season and his team were knocked out of the Europa League at the quarter-final stage by eventual winners Manchester United. Weiler will celebrate his 44th birthday the day after the group match at FC Bayern.
Key players:
The most famous player at RSC Anderlecht is, without doubt, Olivier Deschacht. The 36-year-old defender has played for the club since 1997 and was one of the Belgian side's best players in the Champions League games against FC Bayern in 2003/04. Deschacht holds the record number of appearances for Anderlecht with over 500 competitive games under his belt. New signing Sven Kums has been brought in to fill a gap in midfield left by the departure of the talented Youri Tielemans to AS Monaco. RSC have two capable strikers in the Nigerian Henry Onyekuru, on loan from Everton, plus the Pole Lukasz Teodorczyk
Current form:
The record champions of Belgium have made a faltering start to the domestic league campaign. RSC are currently in tenth place with just eight points from six games. They have clocked up two wins, two draws and two defeats with a goal difference of six for and seven against, and they are eight points behind league leaders RSC Charleroi. Anderlecht came from 2-1 down to win 3-2 at home to Lokeren at the weekend.
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