Ajax hope for change of luck against Madrid

Real Madrid CF's visits brought UEFA Champions League elimination for AFC Ajax in each of the past two seasons but Frank de Boer's men will hope for better this time.

AFC Ajax will be hoping for a case of third time lucky when Group D rivals Real Madrid CF come to the Amsterdam ArenA for an encounter between two clubs with 13 European Cups between them.

• In each of the last two seasons nine-time winners Madrid have beaten the Dutch title holders home and away in the UEFA Champions League group stage – with an aggregate score of 12-0 – to consign them to third place and an early exit.

• Madrid began the group stage in familiar fashion with a 3-2 home defeat of Manchester City FC, scoring twice in the last three minutes, while Ajax succumbed to an 87th-minute goal to go down 1-0 at Borussia Dortmund.

Past meetings
• Ajax's hopes of progress to the 2011/12 round of 16 were ended in a 3-0 home defeat by Madrid on 7 December, José Callejón (14, 90) and Gonzalo Higuaín (41) scoring. Frank de Boer's men had needed only a draw to advance but Madrid's victory and Lyon's 7-1 triumph at GNK Dinamo Zagreb dropped them down to third.

• The teams for that fixture were:
Ajax: Vermeer, Van der Wiel, Vertonghen, Blind, Anita, Eriksen, Enoh, Janssen (Klaassen 76), Sulejmani, Lodeiro (Bulykin 74), Ebecilio.
Madrid: Adán, Arbeloa (Mendes 67), Albiol, Varane, Coentrão, Granero (Alonso 59), Şahin, Kaká, Callejón, Higuaín, Benzema (Altıntop 54).

• Madrid had also won the matchday two meeting at the Bernabéu 3-0 with goals from Cristiano Ronaldo (25), Kaká (41), and Karim Benzema (49).

• Madrid also ended Ajax's hopes with a 4-0 victory in Amsterdam in 2010/11. Having already prevailed 2-0 in Spain thanks to Vurnon Anita's own goal and Higuaín, the Merengues triumphed again with Benzema (36), Álvaro Arbeloa (44), and Ronaldo (70, 81 penalty) scoring for a team who lost Xabi Alonso and Sergio Ramos to late red cards.

• The lineups in Amsterdam on 23 November 2010 were:
Ajax: Stekelenburg, Van der Wiel, Alderweireld, Vertonghen, Anita, Enoh, Sulejmani (Eriksen 88), El Hamdaoui (De Zeeuw 46), De Jong (Lindgren 76), Emanuelson, Suárez.
Madrid: Casillas, Ramos, L Diarra (Mateos 81), Marcelo, Alonso, Arbeloa, Albiol, León (Di María 65), Özil, Ronaldo, Benzema (Canales 82).

• Ajax had won five of the teams' six matches and drawn the other.

• In the 1972/73 semi-final Ajax won 2-1 at home to Madrid then triumphed 1-0 in Spain, going on to win a third successive European Champion Clubs' Cup.

Match background
• Under José Mourinho, the Merengues have an away record of W7 D4 L1 in the UEFA Champions League. Madrid's record on Dutch soil is W4 D4 L4.

• Ajax's overall home record against Liga clubs is W8 D3 L4, but they have won only one of their last seven games against Spanish visitors.

Team ties
• During four years as an FC Barcelona player between 1999 and 2003 De Boer faced Madrid nine times in the Liga and UEFA Champions League, winning two, losing two and drawing five. Mourinho was assistant to Barcelona coach Louis van Gaal in 1999/2000.

• De Boer was part of the Ajax side that beat Madrid 1-0 in the group stage in September 1995, missing the 2-0 return victory in Spain through injury.

• Ryan Babel played alongside Alonso and Arbeloa at Liverpool FC between 2007 and 2009. He set up Liverpool's third goal in a 4-0 home victory over Madrid in the 2008/09 round of 16 second leg.

• Christian Poulsen was at Sevilla FC between 2006 and 2008, playing in two home league wins and two away defeats against Madrid.

• Christian Eriksen and Poulsen were in the Denmark team eliminated from UEFA EURO 2012 through a 2-1 defeat by Sami Khedira and Mesut Özil's Germany. Eriksen and Lasse Schøne played in a 3-2 loss to Portugal, including Ronaldo, Pepe and Fábio Coentrão, in the same competition.

• Eriksen and Poulsen had traded wins with Madrid's Portuguese contingent in qualifying for Poland and Ukraine, Ronaldo scoring in both matches.

• Toby Alderweireld's Belgium lost 1-0 to Khedira and Özil's Germany in a home UEFA EURO 2012 qualifier in September 2010.

Evergreen Pirlo still hungry for silverware

Juventus schemer Andrea Pirlo told Champions Matchday the secret to his enduring success and how he hopes to experience UEFA Champions League glory with the Bianconeri.

When Andrea Pirlo failed to agree a new deal with AC Milan in July 2011 and left the Rossoneri after ten seasons and two UEFA Champions League triumphs to join Juventus on a free transfer, many thought his best days were behind him. They were wrong.

Pirlo quickly became the fulcrum of a team that went from seventh in the previous two seasons to become an invincible force in Italy. With Pirlo simply resplendent as l'architetto - architect - Juve won the Scudetto without losing a game to return to the UEFA Champions League, a competition he cherishes.

"Yes, that special Champions League melody has allowed me to experience great emotions," he told Champions Matchday. "I missed it a lot last season, but now we are back on this fantastic European stage, and we will try to do as well as possible."

Now 33, the newly bearded Pirlo's priceless experience in Europe, classy touch and 360-degree vision could be a significant help for his team-mates, less well-versed in the rigours of the UEFA Champions League. "It can be something different, something important for them, and I will try to help. But we also have great champions in the team who don't need any advice. I hope we can go all the way, but it's a tough competition, with big teams taking part.

"Still, we have every chance to go a long way. I don't know if we can even win it, but we will surely try," said the UEFA EURO 2012 runner-up, whose big-game nous is all the more important following Alessandro del Piero's departure. "Unfortunately he's left. We have new players like Sebastian Giovinco and we hope he can do what Del Piero did for Juventus."

Although Pirlo was not as influential as he can be against Chelsea FC on matchday one, the manner of the Bianconeri's comeback from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 suggests they need fear no one in this competition. First, however, the group stage must be negotiated. "We all know Chelsea, they are the defending European champions," Pirlo said, casting his eye over his club's Group E opponents. "As for Shakhtar, I know Mircea Lucescu, because I had him as a coach at Brescia when I was starting out. They play good football.

"The Danish team we don't know so well, but we will have the chance to get to know them. We will play with the same mentality whether we are home or away. We want to impose our game and win matches by playing well. We will do that on every pitch as well as in Turin."

After a decade in Milan, Pirlo certainly seems to have settled quickly and comfortably into his new surroundings. The artful midfielder shrugs off suggestions his switch from Rossoneri to Bianconeri was a traumatic one. "The training methods are completely different, as training sessions depend on the coach. The rest is pretty much the same, they are two big clubs with the same ambitions, with the same will to win," he said. "They are the two biggest clubs in Italy, known around the world. There are no big differences."

There is one significant difference, however: Pirlo's future is now mapped out in black-and-white.

City's home run a worry for Dortmund

Manchester City FC will look to maintain their impressive 15-match unbeaten home run in European competition when they host Group D rivals Borussia Dortmund.

Manchester City FC will look to maintain their unbeaten home run in Europe when they host Group D rivals Borussia Dortmund. City are undefeated in 15 matches in UEFA competition at Eastlands, suggesting a difficult evening awaits Jürgen Klopp's visitors.

• The teams experienced differing fortunes on matchday one, City conceding two late goals to lose 3-2 at Real Madrid CF while Dortmund saw off AFC Ajax 1-0.

Match background
• Although the clubs have never met before, Dortmund's first European away match came at City's old Maine Road stadium against Manchester United FC in the 1956/57 European Champion Clubs' Cup first round, owing to Old Trafford's lack of floodlights. They were 3-0 down at half-time but fought back to 3-2 – the eventual aggregate score.

• Dortmund fared better at Old Trafford, beating United 1-0 through a goal by Lars Ricken, now head of the club's youth department, to secure a 2-0 aggregate success in the 1996/97 UEFA Champions League semi-final en route to winning the trophy.

• City's last European home loss was against FC Midtjylland in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup second qualifying round.

• City have recorded three wins and a draw against German visitors, most recently a 2-0 success against FC Bayern München in their final match of last season's group stage – albeit not enough to spare them elimination.

• Dortmund lost all three away fixtures in last term's group stage, including a 2-1 reverse at Arsenal FC which means they have also lost their last three games in England.

• Dortmund beat Liverpool FC in the final of the 1965/66 European Cup Winners' Cup. City overcame FC Schalke 04 5-1 in the semi-finals of their triumphant 1969/70 campaign in the same competition.

Team ties
• Robert Mancini faced Dortmund as a UC Sampdoria player in the 1989/90 European Cup Winners' Cup second round, scoring an 88th-minute equaliser in a 1-1 away draw before a 2-0 home victory for Samp, who went on to win the trophy.

• Mancini's FC Internazionale Milano finished above SV Werder Bremen in the 2004/05 group stage, taking four points off them. Inter were second behind Bayern in the 2006/07 group stage, taking one point from the German club.

• Vincent Kompany played for Hamburger SV from 2006 to 2008, facing Dortmund twice in the Bundesliga – a 1-0 away loss in September 2006 and a 1-0 home win in March 2008.

• Edin Džeko was at VfL Wolfsburg between 2007 and 2011, winning the Bundesliga title in 2008/09. He scored four times in seven league meetings with Dortmund, winning three and losing two.

• Javi García's first European goal came against Łukasz Piszczek's Hertha BSC Berlin in the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League round of 32. He actually scored an own goal in a 1-1 first-leg draw before registering in the right net in a 4-0 home victory.

• Pablo Zabaleta played in RCD Espanyol's 2-1 win at Patrick Owomoyela's Bremen in the 2006/07 UEFA Cup semi-final.

• Maicon was in the Inter team that beat Bayern 2-0 in the 2010 UEFA Champions League final.

• Kompany's Belgium were beaten 3-1 by a Germany including Mats Hummels, Marco Reus and İlkay Gündoğan in a UEFA EURO 2012 qualifier in Dusseldorf.

• Hummels and Reus played in Germany's 2-1 loss to Italy in the UEFA EURO 2012 semi-finals, Mario Balotelli scoring twice.

• Sergio Agüero and Zabaleta helped Argentina to a 3-1 friendly win in August against a Germany team including Hummels, Reus, Gündoğan, Marcel Schmelzer and Mario Götze.

• Ivan Perišić played for Croatia in their 1-1 draw with Balotelli's Italy and their 1-0 loss to David Silva's Spain at UEFA EURO 2012.

• Jack Rodwell, James Milner and Micah Richards were in the England side beaten 4-0 by Hummels and Schmelzer's Germany in the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship final.

• Robert Lewandowski struck twice for a Poland side also featuring Jakub Błaszczykowski and Piszczek in a 3-1 victory over Yaya Touré's Ivory Coast in a November 2010 friendly.

• Neven Subotić is a Serbia team-mate of Matija Nastasić and Aleksandar Kolarov.

Milan face testing trip to Spalletti's Zenit

FC Zenit St Petersburg's home record is just one thing that visitors AC Milan have to fear on matchday two when they face a rival who knows them all too well in Luciano Spalletti.

AC Milan face a familiar foe in Luciano Spalletti when they visit FC Zenit St Petersburg for their second fixture in UEFA Champions League Group C.

• Spalletti had an excellent record against Milan as coach of AS Roma, and Zenit's impressive recent European history at the Stadion Petrovski suggests a challenging evening is in store for the seven-time winners, who opened their campaign with a goalless draw against RSC Anderlecht as Zenit were succumbing 3-0 at Málaga CF.

Match background
• Zenit are bidding to extend a 16-match unbeaten home sequence in UEFA competition stretching back to a 2-1 loss to Real Madrid CF in their first UEFA Champions League home fixture on 30 September 2008.

• The Russian title holders' run includes three wins and a draw in last season's UEFA Champions League. They have won ten and drawn one of 11 European home fixtures under Spalletti.

• Milan did not win away in the 2011/12 competition, recording three draws and two defeats. Their last away victory in the UEFA Champions League was a 2-0 success at AJ Auxerre in November 2010.

• Milan's sole previous UEFA Champions League engagement in Russia was a 1-0 victory at FC Lokomotiv Moskva in the 2002/03 second group stage through a Rivaldo penalty. They won the trophy that year, just as they did after their only other victory in Russia – a Romeo Benetti-inspired 1-0 success at FC Spartak Moskva in the 1972/73 European Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals.

• Zenit's last encounter with Italian opponents came in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup round of 16 against Udinese Calcio. Dick Advocaat's team lost 2-0 in Italy, winning the return 1-0 through Anatoliy Tymoshchuk's goal. Vyacheslav Malafeev, Aleksandr Anyukov, Danny, Igor Denisov, Viktor Fayzulin, Roman Shirokov, Konstantin Zyryanov all featured.

• Zenit's two other home ties with Serie A opposition were a goalless draw with Juventus in the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League group stage and a 3-0 defeat by Bologna FC in the 1999/2000 UEFA Cup first round.

Team ties
• Spalletti and his Milan counterpart Massimiliano Allegri both played, at different times, for amateur side UC Cuoiopelli. Both from Tuscany, they were born 80km apart, in Certaldo and Livorno respectively.

• As coaches in Serie A, the pair crossed swords only in 2008/09. Spalletti's Roma beat Allegri's Cagliari Calcio 3-2 with a last-minute goal at the Stadio Olimpico and then came from two down to earn a 2-2 away draw.

• With Roma between 2005 and 2009, Spalletti posted two wins and two draws in home Serie A meetings with Milan. His overall record was W5 D2 L1. Philippe Mexès was with him throughout his four years in Rome.

• With Udinese Calcio – where he was coach in 2001 and again from 2002 to 2005 – Spalletti was also unbeaten at home against Milan, recording one win and two draws. His overall Serie A record against the Rossoneri with Udinese was: W2 D2 L3.

• Spalletti also coached Empoli FC, UC Sampdoria, AC Venezia and AC Ancona in Italy.

• Domenico Criscito played for Genoa CFC and Juventus and was a team-mate of Marco Amelia and Stephan El Shaarawy at Genoa in 2009/10.

• Criscito has played for Italy alongside Ignazio Abate, Riccardo Montolivo, Antonio Nocerino and Giampaolo Pazzini.

• Shirokov (2) and Kerzhakov scored as Russia overcame Montolivo and Nocerino's Italy 3-0 in a pre-UEFA EURO 2012 friendly. Denisov, Malafeev and Zyryanov also played for Russia.

• Kerzhakov was in the Sevilla FC side beaten 3-1 by Milan in the 2007 UEFA Super Cup.

• Aleksandar Luković spent four seasons with Udinese, including a loan spell at Ascoli Calcio. He played alongside Cristián Zapata and both appeared in Udinese's UEFA Cup win over Zenit in March 2009.

• Sergei Semak and Mario Yepes were team-mates at Paris Saint-Germain FC from 2005 to 2006.

• Semak played in Russia's 1-0 reverse at Italy in a 1998 FIFA World Cup qualifying play-off. With PFC CSKA Moskva he lost 3-2 at Parma FC in the 2002/03 UEFA Cup first round despite scoring twice and was in the FC Rubin Kazan team beaten 2-0 by Inter in the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League group stage.

Desire to end wait drives Real Madrid on

It has been more than a decade since Real Madrid CF – Europe's most decorated club – won the UEFA Champions League, but Graham Hunter thinks 2013 could be their year.

There has never been any secret made of the fact that José Mourinho was recruited by Real Madrid CF for one purpose above anything else: to win the UEFA Champions League.

It is easy for neutrals to forget that before the Portuguese was signed up – off the back of UEFA Champions League glory with FC Internazionale Milano in 2010 – the club with the most European Cups (nine) had been enduring a testing run of form on the continent.

Having won in 2002 – when Zinédine Zidane provided one of the iconic moments in the competition's history with his glorious volley – Madrid reached the last eight the following year but then hit a wall. For six straight seasons they went out in the first knockout round – including a 5-0 aggregate defeat by Liverpool FC in 2009. "When I arrived we weren't even a seeded club in the Champions League," Mourinho pointed out to UEFA.com earlier this season.

In theory, Mourinho was everything Madrid needed. He is one of only three men, alongisde Ernst Happel and Ottmar Hitzfeld, to win this trophy with two different clubs. In his first season with Madrid he became the first to reach the UEFA Champions League semi-finals with four different teams. He did likewise last term, but what must he do to make that final step?

©Getty Images

Zinédine Zidane with the trophy in 2002

Madrid have won the UEFA Champions League three times – in 1998, 2000 and 2002 – and finished outside the top two in the Spanish top flight on each occasion. History indicates that they find it hard to match triumph in Europe with domestic dominance – something in which they are hardly alone. However, the Merengues and Mourinho will undoubtedly be aiming for the title and next May's Wembley final – how they balance both ambitions will be fascinating to follow.

"The Champions League is a question of details ... but many, many details," Mourinho has told UEFA.com in the past. He will certainly be keen to improve these details, especially considering the nature of the previous two years' eliminations: set-piece goals, red cards, and late goals recurrent scourges.

The fact that Madrid's first group game on this occasion – a 3-2 win against Manchester City FC – was won in the dying embers of the match is the first sign that Mourinho and his team may have learned their lessons. They still must be considered one of, if not the team to beat.