Perfect start and Portuguese experts
Mon, 18/10/2021, 09:00
7 facts on the Champions League game at Benfica
Bayern have made the perfect start to their Champions League campaign with two wins from two. Julian Nagelsmann’s now head to Benfica on Wednesday as the top side in Group E, but the Portuguese have also made a solid start in Europe. fcbayern.com has the best pre-match facts before the trip to Lisbon.
1. Nagelsmann’s dream start
It was high fives for Nagelsmann on his Champions League home debut with Bayern as they ran out 5-0 winners against Dynamo Kyiv.
Nagelsmann’s first two games as Bayern coach in the Champions League have produced a haul of six points and a +8 goal difference, which equals the club's best start to a campaign in the competition. The only other times FCB have got off to such flying starts were in 2015/16 (also six points and an aggregate score of 8-0) and in 2019/20 (six points and 10-2).
2. Benfica’s Bayern fear
The head-to-head record in this fixture is quite clearly in Bayern’s favour. The German record champions haven’t lost any of the ten competitive encounters, winning seven of them (D3). Benfica have faced no other club so often on the European stage without winning a single game. Eight of those meetings have been in the Champions League/European Cup (D5, D3), which also means a record for Bayern. The only teams to play eight times against a certain opponent in the competition without suffering defeat are Bayern again against Spartak Moscow (W5, D3) and Barcelona against Lyon (W5, D3).
3. Bayern unbeatable in the groups
FCB have gone 24 games in the Champions League group stage without defeat (W21, D3), which is the club’s best run since the competition took on its current format in 2003/04.
Bayern’s unbeaten group run began with a 3-0 win at Celtic.
4. Record on the road
Germany’s most successful club have gone 19 away games in the Champions League without losing (W15, D4) since the 3-0 defeat at Paris Saint-Germain in September 2017. That is the record run in the competition. Of the 54 goals FCB have scored in that series, over a third have come from Robert Lewandowski (19 – 35%).
5. Portuguese experts from Munich
Lewandowski is also a fan of facing Portuguese clubs, scoring five goals in his six Champions League games against them – including three against Benfica. No player in the Champions League has ever scored more goals against teams from Portugal. Bayern’s record against Portuguese sides is also excellent, having lost only two out of 28 matches (W17, D9).
Robert Lewandowski bagged a brace in the last match against Benfica, winning 5-1 in November 2018.
6. Neuer set for century
Manuel Neuer is in line to make his 100th Champions League appearance for Bayern. Germany’s No1 would become the fourth player to reach that milestone for the club and only the second goalkeeper after Oliver Kahn (103).
7. Benfica’s best start in years
Benfica have made a good start to their Champions League campaign with four points from the first two games. The only time they’ve had more was in 2015/16 (six points), while they also had four in 1994/95 and 2011/12. The Eagles made it as far as the quarter-finals in all three of those seasons. But this is the first time in their 16 Champions League participations that Benfica have managed not to concede a single goal over the first two games.
We’ve taken a closer look at our opponents from Lisbon:
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