2023-12-05 09:52:21
Real Madrid have a chance to win all six of their UEFA Champions League group matches for a record third time as they travel to Union Berlin, who are hoping to clinch third place in Group C.
Late goals from substitutes Nicolás Paz and Joselu gave Madrid a 4-2 home win over Napoli on Matchday 5 to take first place in the group with one game remaining. That same evening, Union drew 1-1 at ten-man Braga, their second consecutive draw in their maiden Champions League campaign.
Madrid, who scored late to earn a 1-0 win over Union in Spain on Matchday 1, have 15 points, eight more than second-place Napoli. The Union have two points, two less than Braga, and must win on matchday 6 and hope that the Portuguese lose in Naples to overtake them and qualify for the UEFA Europa League.
Madrid have already won all six Champions League group matches in 2011/12 and 2014/15; only Bayern München (2019/20, 2021/22, 2022/23) has achieved this three times. These two clubs are also the only ones to have filled out more than once in a Champions League group.
Previous meetings
For its first Champions League match, and its first match against Madrid, the Union almost took a memorable point at the Santiago Bernabéu. In the 90th minute the score was still goalless, but Jude Bellingham celebrated his first appearance for Madrid in the competition by scoring the winning goal in the 94th minute.
On the teams
Union Berlin
Union make their European Cup debut by finishing fourth in the Bundesliga in 2022/23, their best league finish. This is the Union’s third consecutive season in UEFA competitions and their fourth overall.
Die Eisernen participated in the group stage of the Europa League in 2022/23. Second in their group behind Union Saint-Gilloise of Belgium, they impressively eliminated Ajax in the round of 16 (0-0, 3-1) only to lose in their round of 16 reunion with Union SG (3-3, 0-3).
This season, after losing in Madrid, the Union was also beaten at home by Braga (2-3), a match they had led 2-0, and Naples (0-1), but drew 1-1 in their last two matches, in Naples and Braga.
Urs Fischer’s team collected 62 points in the 2022/23 Bundesliga, nine points behind the champion, Bayern München.
The Union announced on November 15 that it was parting ways with Fischer after more than five years at the helm of the team. On 26 November, Union appointed Croatian coach Nenad Bjelica as his replacement. The 52-year-old has managed clubs in Austria, Italy, Poland, Croatia and more recently in Turkey with Trabzonspor, which he left in October, and played in Germany for Kaiserslautern between 2001 and 2004.
Real Madrid
The Madrid side were pitted against German opponents in last season’s group stage, beating Leipzig 2-0 at the Santiago Bernabéu on Matchday 2 before losing 3-2 away on Matchday 5. .
The defeat ended Madrid’s 13-match unbeaten run against Bundesliga clubs, home and away (W9, D4).
The Spaniards have recorded six of their seven away wins against German clubs in their last 11 matches (D2 L3).
This is Madrid’s 28th campaign in the Champions League group stage, a record they share with FC Barcelona. The last time Madrid missed the group stage was in 1996/97.
The Madrid side have qualified for the round of 16 in all 28 of their campaigns and have won their group 20 times, including the last four times.
After winning the 14th C1, the eighth in the Champions League era, also a record in the competition (in 2021/22), Carlo Ancelotti’s team finished first in their group last season, winning four of their six matches (1 draw, 1 loss) before beating Liverpool in the round of 16 (5-2, 1-0). The Madrilenians then won for the second consecutive time in the quarter-final against Chelsea (2-0 home and away), before repeating their 2021/22 semi-final against Manchester City, which this time turned to the advantage of the English (1-1, 0-4).
Last season’s 4-0 defeat at Manchester was Madrid’s biggest European defeat.
This season, after eliminating the Union, Ancelotti’s team twice beat Napoli (3-2, 4-2) and Braga (2-1, 3-0).
Madrid have lost 8 of their last 25 Champions League away matches, winning nine. He has been beaten in four of the last eleven meetings.
The Merengues ceded the Spanish championship title to Barcelona, finishing ten points behind their great rival in the La Liga standings.
We know each other…
Leonardo Bonucci has faced Real Madrid in the Champions League on five occasions for Juventus, including in the 2016/17 final in which a team comprising Dani Carvajal, Luka Modrić and Toni Kroos won 4-1 at Cardiff.
Ancelotti was Bayern’s coach between 2016 and 2018, winning the Bundesliga in 2016/17 and two German Super Cups.
New Union coach Nenad Bjelica played in La Liga for Albacete (1993-96), Real Betis (1996-98) and Las Palmas (1998/99).
Bjelica faced Real Madrid three times, always with Albacete, for a defeat and a draw.
Played together
Kevin Volland and Aurélien Tchouaméni (Monaco 2020-22)
Lucas Tousart and Ferland Mendy (Lyon 2017-19)
Diogo Leite and Éder Militão (Porto 2018/19)
Rani Khedira and Antonio Rüdiger (Stuttgart 2011-14)
Rani Khedira is the brother of Sami, who played for Real Madrid between 2010 and 2015, winning the 2013/14 Champions League, the 2014 UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup, La Liga 2011/12 and the Copa del Rey in 2011 and 2014.
Madrid striker Joselu was born in Stuttgart and lived in Germany until his family returned to Spain when he was four.
Played in Germany:
David Alaba (Bayern 2008-21 ; before Hoffenheim 2011)
Antonio Rüdiger (Stuttgart 2011-15)
Toni Kroos (Bayern 2006-14, for Leverkusen 2009-10)
Jude Bellingham (Dortmund 2020-23)
Joselu (Hoffenheim 2012-14, loan Eintracht Frankfurt 2013/14, Hannover 2014/15)
Dani Carvajal (Leverkusen 2012/13)
Teammates in selection
Robin Gosens, Kevin Volland and Antonio Rüdiger (Germany)
Josip Juranović and Luka Modrić (Croatia)
Christopher Trimmel and David Alaba (Austria)
Spain, with Carvajal and Joselu coming on as substitutes and Fran García and Kepa Arrizabalaga unused substitutes, beat a Croatia team including Juranović and Modrić in the UEFA Nations League final on 18 June. Carvajal, Joselu and Modrić all scored in the penalty shootout.
Three days earlier, Joselu had scored Spain’s winning goal in Bonucci’s 2-1 semi-final defeat of Italy. Carvajal, Kepa and Fran García were unused substitutes.
Juranović and Modrić were part of the Croatian team that eliminated a Brazilian team featuring Vinícius Júnior, Rodrygo and Éder Militão in the quarter-finals of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Modrić scored his penalty in the penalty shootout on goal, while Rodrygo missed his in Croatia’s 4-2 victory after a 1-1 draw.
András Schäfer scored for Hungary in the 2-2 draw against Germany, whose team included Rüdiger and Kroos, in the UEFA EURO 2020 group stage. Schäfer’s teammates at Union Berlin , Gosens and Volland, also played for Germany.
Alaba scored in Austria’s 2-0 friendly win over Bonucci’s Italy on November 20, 2022.
Bonucci scored from the penalty spot against Kroos’ Germany in the UEFA EURO 2016 quarter-final. Germany eventually won 6-5 on penalties, with Bonucci missing the penalty shootout and Kroos converting it .
Kroos scored for Germany in a 4–1 victory over Bonucci’s Italy in a friendly match in March 2016. Rüdiger and Volland have also represented Germany.
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