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Malmö have tough task in Madrid to finish third

Group winners once again, Real Madrid finish with a home game against Malmö, who have only three points but still have hope of reaching the UEFA Europa League.

Cristiano Ronaldo scored two significant goals in Madrid's win at Malmö
Cristiano Ronaldo scored two significant goals in Madrid's win at Malmö ©AFP/Getty Images

Real Madrid CF conclude another group-winning campaign with a home game against Malmö FF, who are still in contention to qualify for the UEFA Europa League.

• On 30 September, in Madrid's first European encounter with Swedish opposition, two historic Cristiano Ronaldo goals continued their strong start to the campaign. With the first in his side's 2-0 away win he reached 500 goals for club and country; the second meant he drew level with Raúl González in the Madrid scoring charts.

Match background

Madrid
• The Merengues first saw off FC Shakhtar Donetsk 4-0 at home and in the double header with Paris Saint-Germain, they drew 0-0 in France before a 1-0 home success. A 4-3 matchday five win at Shakhtar put them on 13 points and clinched first place in the group for the sixth time in the last seven seasons.

• The ten-time winners won all three group home games in the past two campaigns – scoring ten goals each time – but their 11-game winning home streak in the competition ended when they went down 4-3 against FC Schalke 04 at the Santiago Bernabéu in last season's round of 16 second leg.

• That defeat also curtailed the Blancos' ten-match winning sequence in the tournament, home and away. It was their first defeat in 22 UEFA Champions League games at the Santiago Bernabéu, with 19 of those games won; they subsequently recorded a win and a draw at home last season as their campaign ended in the semi-finals.

Malmö
• In their second successive season in the competition having made their debut in 2014/15, Malmö lost both opening fixtures, starting off with a 2-0 defeat in Paris before that Madrid reverse. They beat Shakhtar 1-0 at home but lost 4-0 away and suffered a 5-0 home loss to Paris last time out.

• The Himmelsblått lost 3-2 at Celtic FC in the play-offs and 2-0 at FC Salzburg in the third qualifying round, turning each tie round at home. In the second qualifying round a 1-0 second-leg win at VMFD Žalgiris was enough for them to advance after a 0-0 home draw.

• Malmö, European Cup runners-up in 1979, have finished fourth on the two previous occasions they reached a UEFA competition group stage. In last season's Group A they lost all three away games, their only points coming via a 2-0 win against Olympiacos FC in their first home game. In the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League they finished bottom after one draw and five defeats.

• Malmö's only other assignments with Spanish opponents were against Atlético Madrid; they lost home and away in last season's group stage, and in the 1966/67 European Champion Clubs' Cup first round. Luis Aragonés scored in both legs as Atlético won 2-0 away and 3-1 at home.

• Shakhtar are also on three points but lead Malmö on head-to-head so if they win in Paris – or match the Swedish side's points tally - the Ukrainian team will finish third.

Coach and player links
• Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice past Johan Wiland in Madrid's 4-0 home win over FC København on matchday two in 2013/14. Both he and Luka Modrić beat the goalkeeper in a 2-0 away win.

• Markus Rosenberg spent the 2010/11 season at Real Racing Club, on loan from SV Werder Bremen, and finished top scorer with nine goals, one coming in a 6–1 defeat at Madrid.

• Rosenberg also scored in Bremen's 3-2 home win over Madrid in the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League group stage. 

• A youth player at FC Bayern München, Oscar Lewicki trained with the first team who included Toni Kroos.

• Sergio Ramos scored for Spain against Rosenberg's Sweden in a UEFA EURO 2008 qualifier at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu on 17 November 2007. Malmö sporting director Daniel Andersson was also in the lineup.

• Raphaël Varane scored the winner in France's 1-0 friendly win over Sweden at Stade Vélodrome on 18 November 2014.

• As Helsingborg coach Åge Hareide lost twice to Levante UD (0-1a, 1-3h) in the 2012/13 UEFA Europa League group stage, while with Rosenborg BK in 2003/04 he suffered a UEFA Champions League third qualifying round defeat by RC Deportivo La Coruña (0-0 h, 0-1 a)

• Guillermo Molins played in the Spanish league for Real Betis Balompié, on loan from RSC Anderlecht, in 2013.

• Jo Inge Berget, Magnus Wolff Eikrem and Martin Ødegaard are Norway team-mates.

Match facts

Madrid
• Casemiro will incur a suspension with his next booking.

• Madrid have won their last four matches since losing 4-0 to FC Barcelona on 21 November, most recently beating Getafe CF 4-1 on 5 December.

• Gareth Bale's goal in the 2-0 success at SD Eibar on 29 November was his first for the Whites in exactly three months; he made it two in as many games by scoring against Getafe.

• Cristiano Ronaldo's goal against Getafe was his tenth in the Liga this season; Karim Benzema's double in the same game took his league tally to eight for 2015/16.

• Madrid were removed from the Copa del Rey on 4 December after fielding an ineligible player in the fourth round first leg against Cádiz CF two days earlier. The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) announced Cádiz will advance instead.

Malmö
• Rasmus Bengtsson and Markus Rosenberg are both banned after collecting their third bookings of the group stage on matchday five. Kári Árnason is available after a one-match suspension.

• Enoch Kofi Adu, Simon Kroon and Erdal Rakip scored as Malmö recovered from a goal down to defeat UEFA Europa League contenders Molde FK 3-1 in a friendly on 3 December.

• Wiland was carried off against Molde after colliding with team-mate Árnason. He remained in Sweden with concussion while the rest of the squad travelled to Malaga to prepare for the Madrid game. 

• This match will be Hareide's last in charge of Malmö. On 2 December, the Norwegian, who led the Sky Blues to the 2014 Allsvenskan title, announced that he will leave the club at the end of the month.

• Malmö concluded their Allsvenskan campaign on 31 October with a 2-0 loss to newly-crowned champions IFK Norrköping. Hareide's men finished fifth, 12 points off the top.

• Anton Tinnerholm and uncapped Pa Konate have been called up by Sweden coach Erik Hamrén for two January friendlies in Abu Dhabi.

• Franz Brorsson, 19, who made his UEFA Champions League group stage debut on matchday five, signed a three-year contract on 2 December.