FC Schalke 04 and Montpellier Hérault SC are in contrasting moods as they meet for the first time in the second round of matches in UEFA Champions League Group B.

• The teams were on different ends of 2-1 scorelines on matchday one, Schalke triumphing at Olympiacos FC while Montpellier went down at home to Arsenal FC.

Match background
• Schalke have won all three of their home games against French opponents but lost both away. They beat AS Nancy-Lorraine 1-0 in the 2006/07 UEFA Cup first round – before a 3-1 defeat in the return in France – and Paris Saint-Germain FC 3-1 in the group stage of the 2008/09 competition.

• In their only UEFA Champions League meeting with a Ligue 1 club, Schalke defeated Olympique Lyonnais 3-0 in the group stage in Gelsenkirchen on 24 November 2010, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar scoring twice after Jefferson Farfán put the hosts ahead. They had lost the sides' meeting in Lyon 1-0, Michel Bastos scoring the only goal of the game.

• Montpellier, French champions for the first time in 2011/12, have not met German opponents since 1999 and all six previous fixtures came in the UEFA Intertoto Cup. In 1997 they lost 2-1 in their semi-final first leg at 1. FC Köln, winning 1-0 at home in the return to go through on away goals. In their final they went down 4-2 to Lyon.

• Two years later Montpellier met German sides in both the semi-finals and finals of the UEFA Intertoto Cup. They overcame MSV Duisburg in the last four, drawing 1-1 away and winning 3-0 at home. In the final, they swapped 1-1 draws with Hamburger SV, eventually winning 3-0 on penalties in the second leg in Hamburg. They went on to reach the UEFA Cup second round, overcoming FK Crvena zvezda 3-2 on aggregate in the first round before going down 5-1 to RC Deportivo La Coruña over two legs.

• Schalke are making their fifth UEFA Champions League appearance and when they were last involved, in the aforementioned 2010/11 campaign, they recovered from their 1-0 defeat at Lyon on matchday one to win seven of their next nine fixtures with the other two drawn.

• They finished first in their group before overcoming Valencia CF and holders FC Internazionale Milano in the knockout rounds. They came unstuck against Manchester United FC in the semi-finals, losing 2-0 at home and 4-1 away.

Team ties
• Benedikt Höwedes scored Germany's 90th-minute winner in the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Championship play-off against a France team which included Anthony Mounier. Höwedes' goal gave Germany a 1-0 win in the second leg in Metz on 15 October 2008 and a 2-1 aggregate victory, with both players having also featured in the 1-1 first-leg draw. Germany went on to lift the trophy at the finals in Sweden.

• On 7 September 2007, Tranquillo Barnetta scored Switzerland's opening goal in a 2-1 friendly victory over Chile in Vienna. Marco Estrada came on for the South American side in the 66th minute.

• Estrada got his revenge at the 2010 FIFA World Cup when Chile defeated Switzerland 1-0 in the group stage. Estrada was on the bench and Barnetta came on in the 42nd minute.

• Barnetta faced Daniel Congré in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup group stage when his Bayer 04 Leverkusen team beat Toulouse FC 1-0 in Germany.

• In the 2006/07 UEFA Cup round of 16, Barnetta's Leverkusen took on RC Lens, who included Hilton in their team. The French side won their home leg 2-1 but lost 3-0 in Leverkusen.

• John Utaka and Chinedu Obasi are team-mates in the Nigerian national side but have yet to play together.