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Benfica 1 CSKA Moscow 2 LIVE: Zhamaletdinov pounces on rebound to complete comeback
While Man United take on Basel, their Portuguese and Russian rivals will be looking to make a winning start
BENFICA take on CSKA Moscow in the other match in Manchester United's group.
The Portuguese and Russian sides are looking to make a winning start as they look to stake an early claim for a last 16 place.
- Benfica and CSKA Moscow’s only previous encounter was in the Last 32 of the 2004/05
UEFA Cup. The Russian side progressed thanks to a 2-0 home win and 1-1 draw in
Lisbon; they went on to lift the trophy later that season. - Benfica have won the European Cup/Champions League on two occasions, in 1961 and
1962, the joint-most for a Portuguese team alongside Porto. However, only Juventus have
lost more finals (7) than the Lisbon side (5). - Benfica have never made it any further than the quarter-finals of the Champions League
since 1992/93. - Only Porto have featured in more Champions League campaigns than Benfica (13) among
Portuguese sides. - Benfica have scored more than two goals only twice in their last 48 Champions League
games. - CSKA Moscow are making their 11th Champions League appearance – their fifth in a row.
It’s the second most for a Russian side after Spartak Moscow (12). - CSKA Moscow knocked out AEK Athens and Young Boys Bern to reach this season’s
Champions League group stages.
- CSKA Moscow have failed to reach the knockout stages in their previous four Champions
League appearances. The last time they made the Round of 16 was in 2011/12 when Real
Madrid eventually knocked them out. - CSKA Moscow are winless in their last 10 Champions League games (D4 L6), equaling
their longest run without a victory in the competition. Away from home, they have lost 11
of their last 13 Champions League games (W1 D1). - CSKA have failed to keep a clean sheet in their last 28 Champions League games, their
last shut-out coming in November 2011 against Trabzonspor (0-0). In fact, Igor Akinfeev
has failed to keep a clean sheet in his last 39 games (excluding qualifiers), the longest
ever run without a shut-out for a goalkeeper in the competition. - Eduardo Salvio has been directly involved in five of Benfica’s last nine Champions League
goals (3 goals, 2 assists). - Benfica manager Rui Vitoria has taken his team to the knockout stages of the Champions
League in each of the last two seasons, a first for the Lisbon side. - This is Viktor Goncharenko’s fourth Champions League campaign as manager, after three
previous appearances with BATE Borisov. He was the first manager to lead a Belarusian
team into the group stages of the competition.
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