Bayern seek Spartak spark

FC Bayern München will be hoping to continue a fine record against FC Spartak Moskva when the sides meet in Group B. Chasing their second UEFA Champions League crown - they were winners in 2000/01 – Bayern are unbeaten in six previous meetings and will provide formidable opponents for a Russian outfit back in the competition after a three-season absence.

• Last year Bayern reeled off three successive victories in their opening group fixtures and just like the previous season the first two games were won without conceding a goal. However they could not sustain their impressive momentum and for the third campaign in a row had to be satisfied with finishing the section runners-up.

Chelsea connection
• It was Bayern's first campaign in their new Fußball Arena München and all three home games in the group went in their favour. When AC Milan drew 1-1 there in the first knockout round they became the first visitors in any competition to avoid defeat in the new stadium. Interestingly, both Michael Ballack and Andriy Shevchenko were on target in that game and now resume their European careers as team-mates at Chelsea FC.

• With Bayern going down to a 4-1 defeat in the Milan return their hopes of reaching their seventh quarter-final in nine campaigns came to an unceremonious end.

• As they begin their eleventh UEFA Champions League season in a group which also includes Sporting Clube de Portugal and FC Internazionale Milano, Felix Magath's team will be looking to continue the trend of the last three campaigns which all started with a win for the German side.

Spartak struggle
• Russian Premier League runners-up Spartak return to Europe's premier club competition harbouring unhappy memories of their last campaign. In 2002/03 they lost all six group games, conceding 18 goals and scoring just one.

• This game represents Spartak's 200th in UEFA club competition and coach Vladimir Fedotov will be hoping it does not go the way of recent fixtures against Bayern.

Past meetings
• The teams met in the 2000/01 UEFA Champions League second group stage and again the following season in the first group stage, Bayern coming out on top in each of the four games. They had first locked horns in the 1994/95 group stage when honours were even, the games ending 1-1 in the Luzhniki stadium and 2-2 in the Olympiastadion.

• Spartak won on their first visit to face German sides but in the 12 subsequent games have not managed to repeat that success, drawing three and losing nine. Bayern have also had one tie with FC Torpedo Moskva and one with FC Lokomotiv Moskva, the latter opponents inflicting the only defeat they have encountered at home to Russian opposition.