UEFA Champions League - 2019/20 SeasonMatch press kits

A late Pizzi goal gave Benfica the points against Lyon on Matchday 3, meaning the Portuguese club travel to France for the return fixture with renewed hope of progressing from Group G.

• Rudi Garcia's first European match as Lyon coach looked set to finish all square after Memphis Depay – with his third goal in as many games – cancelled out a fourth-minute Rafa Silva strike, but with four minutes left in Lisbon a misdirected throw from OL goalkeeper Anthony Lopes gave Pizzi the chance to give Benfica their first win in this season's UEFA Champions League.

• Benfica therefore have three points in the standings, one less than both Lyon and Zenit, with Leipzig leading the way on six points.

Previous meetings
• Both sides won their home game when the teams met in the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League group stage. Lyon were 2-0 victors at the Stade de Gerland on Matchday 3 thanks to goals from Jimmy Briand and Lisandro López.

• Benfica turned the tables with a 4-3 success in Lisbon, Fábio Coentrão scoring what proved to be the winner, his second goal of the game, in the 67th minute before Lyon scored three times in the final 16 minutes.

• Lyon finished second in the section behind Schalke and went on to lose to Real Madrid in the round of 16. Having finished third, Benfica went into the UEFA Europa League round of 32, then going on to the semi-finals before losing to fellow Portuguese side Braga.

Form guide
Lyon
• A Depay penalty earned Lyon a share of the points against Zenit on Matchday 1, before Depay and Martin Terrier, with his first European goal, secured a 2-0 win at Leipzig. Defeat at Benfica was only Lyon's third loss in their last 15 European matches (W5 D7).

• Third in Ligue 1 last season, this is Lyon's 16th UEFA Champions League group campaign – four more than any other French club – and fourth in five seasons.

• Les Gones won their first game in last season's UEFA Champions League, 2-1 at Manchester City, before drawing the next five and qualifying for the round of 16 with a 1-1 draw at Shakhtar Donetsk on matchday six. A 5-1 second-leg loss at Barcelona in the round of 16 ended their interest in last season's competition.

• All three of Lyon's home group games last season finished 2-2, against Shakhtar, Hoffenheim and Manchester City. Matchday 1 made it five successive home European draws.

• A 3-2 defeat by CSKA Moskva in the 2017/18 UEFA Europa League round of 16 is Lyon's only home reverse in 15 European contests (W7 D7), since a 1-0 UEFA Champions League group loss to Juventus in October 2016.

• OL's last home game against a Portuguese club came in the 2013/14 UEFA Europa League group stage, a 1-1 draw against Vitória SC. They have won only two of their last seven matches against Portuguese sides, home and away (D2 L3).

• Lyon were UEFA Champions League semi-finalists in 2010.

Benfica
• Despite beating Lyon last time out, defeats at home by Leipzig on Matchday 1 (1-2) and at Zenit on Matchday 2 (1-3) mean Benfica have won only three of their last 16 matches in the UEFA Champions League, group stage to final (D1 L12).

• In 2018/19 Benfica finished third behind Bayern München and Ajax in Group E, moving into the UEFA Europa League having picked up seven points. They went on to beat Galatasaray (2-1 aggregate) and Dinamo Zagreb (3-1 aggregate) only to succumb to Eintracht Frankfurt on away goals in the quarter-finals (4-2 h, 0-2 a).

• Benfica have been defeated in 14 of their last 26 European fixtures.

• Despite victories at PAOK, AEK and Galatasaray last season, Benfica have won only three of their last 14 fixtures outside Portugal (D2 L9).

• However, Benfica have now won eight of their last 12 fixtures with French clubs (D2 L2), home and away; they have lost only two of their last six games in France (D2 L2). Their last away game against a Ligue 1 club brought a goalless draw at Monaco in the 2014/15 UEFA Champions League group stage.

• Champions of Portugal for a record 37th time last season, Benfica are in the group stage for the 15th time, although only five of those previous 14 campaigns have extended into the last 16; they also reached the quarter-finals direct in 1994/95.

• The Lisbon giants have reached seven European Cup finals, winning the trophy in 1961 and 1962.

Links and trivia
• Has played in Portugal:
Fernando Marçal (Torreense 2010–12, Nacional 2012–15)

• Marçal was a Benfica player between 2015 and 2017 but never played for the first team, spending time on loan at Turkish club Gaziantepspor and Guingamp in France before signing for Lyon. He played against Benfica eight times while in Portugal, all for Nacional (D1 L7), and was sent off in a 2-2 home draw against the Eagles in February 2013.

• Have played in France:
Adel Taarabt (Lens 2004–06)
Carlos Vinícius (Monaco 2019 (loan))

• Have played together:
Moussa Dembélé & Adel Taarabt (Fulham 2013)

• International team-mates:
Anthony Lopes & André Almeida (Portugal U21)
Anthony Lopes & André Almeida, Rúben Dias, Pizzi, Rafa Silva, Gedson Fernandes (Portugal)

• Rafa Silva and Anthony Lopes were part of the victorious Portugal squad at UEFA EURO 2016 in France.

• Rafa Silva was a late substitute in Portugal's 1-0 win against the Netherlands, for whom Depay played 90 minutes, in the UEFA Nations League final on 9 June.

• Andrija Živković and Youssouf Koné traded goals in Serbia's 2-1 defeat of Mali in the 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup semi-finals, with Mali's Koné sent off in extra time.

Latest news

Lyon
• Having lost their previous two away games, OL were 3-2 winners at Toulouse on Saturday, Memphis Depay scoring twice – including the winner five minutes into added time – and Moussa Dembélé once.

• Lyon have 16 points after 12 league games in 2019/20, five less than at the same point last season.

• Lyon parted company with coach Sylvinho on 7 October, the day after a 1-0 defeat at local rivals St-Étienne. Rudi Garcia took over as the Brazilian's replacement on 14 October and recorded his first win in his third fixture, defeating Metz 2-0 at home on 26 October.

• Dembélé and Depay secured victory against Metz, ending Lyon's run of eight Ligue 1 games without a win (D4 L4). That was Lyon's longest streak without a league win in a single season since August–October 1977.

• OL were seven games without a win in all competitions (D4 L3) prior to their Matchday 2 victory at Leipzig, their longest run without a victory since an eight-game sequence between March and May 1996.

• Lyon scored nine goals without conceding in their first two Ligue 1 games of the season, winning 3-0 at Monaco before beating Angers 6-0.

• The defeat of Angers was Lyon's biggest home league win since an 8-1 victory against Le Mans on 13 May 2006.

• Dembélé (eight) and Depay (seven) have scored 15 of Lyon's 19 league goals so far this season.

• On 28 October, Lyon announced Garcia's long-time fitness coach Paolo Rongoni was joining the club's staff.

• Fernando Marçal (thigh) has not played since 19 October.

Benfica
• The Eagles have kicked off their defence of the Liga title with nine wins in ten matches, suffering only one defeat – a 2-0 loss at home to Porto on 24 August.

• That defeat ended Benfica's 11-match winning run in the league; they have won 18 of their last 19 matches in the competition, beating Rio Ave 2-0 at home on Saturday.

• Benfica have scored 53 goals in their last 17 league matches.

• The Lisbon club have kept eight clean sheets in the league this season, including six in their last seven matches.

• A 1-0 win at Tondela on 27 October was a 25th Liga win for Bruno Lage, in his 27th match in charge – the fastest coach to that mark in Benfica's history.

• Carlos Vinícius scored twice in the 4-0 home victory against Portimonense on 30 October and now has four goals in his last five matches.

• Pizzi, who scored Benfica's second against Rio Ave on Saturday, has 12 goals in 15 club appearances in all competitions this season.

• Rafa Silva was out between Matchday 2 and 3 with an adductor problem; he scored the opening goal against Lyon but was forced off by a thigh injury midway through the first half and is likely to be out for the rest of the year.

• Raúl De Tomás has missed Benfica's last three games due to an ankle sprain.

• Chiquinho came on as a second-half substitute against Tondela, his first appearance  since the Porto match on 24 August due to a thigh problem.

• A thigh injury meant André Almeida did not play between 28 September and 27 October.

• Germán Conti is fit after recovering from a thigh injury but is yet to feature in a game this season.

• Benfica will face third division Vizela in the last 32 of the Portuguese Cup on 23 November.

• On 17 October Ferro extended his contract until June 2024.

• Benfica won the Portuguese Super Cup on 4 August with a 5-0 win against Lisbon rivals Sporting CP.

Date of birth: 20 February 1964
Nationality: French
Playing career: LOSC Lille, Caen, Martigues
Coaching career: Corbeil-Essonnes (player-coach), St-Étienne, Dijon, Le Mans, LOSC Lille, Roma, Marseille, Lyon

• The son of former LOSC player José Garcia, Rudi grew up in the Paris suburbs but started his playing career as an attacking midfielder at his father's old club. Spent six years with Les Dogues, going on to Caen (1988-91) and Martigues (1991-92) before injury prompted a move into coaching.

• Having completed a sports science degree, started out as a player-coach at amateur side Corbeil-Essonnes, whom he had represented as a youngster; did well enough to be offered a job as assistant coach at St-Étienne in 1998. After a brief spell as head coach in tandem with Jean-Guy Wallemme, Garcia re-emerged at the helm of Dijon in 2002, winning promotion to Ligue 2 in 2003/04 and taking the club to the French Cup semi-finals. Returned to Ligue 1 in 2007 with Le Mans, who he led to ninth place in his only season.

• Brought to LOSC as Claude Puel's successor in 2008, he briefly left after a fifth-placed finish in his first season only to reconsider. He led his side to victory in the Coupe de France in May 2011, their first win in the competition since 1955, before completing a domestic double a week later, LOSC's first league title in 57 years.

• Appointed at Roma in June 2013 and oversaw wins in his first ten league matches, the best ever start to Serie A. Eventually finished second, earning a UEFA Champions League place for the first time since 2010, and Roma again finished second in 2015, before Garcia was dismissed the following January.

• Took over at Marseille in October 2016, taking the club to the 2017/18 UEFA Europa League final in Lyon, but Atlético Madrid proved too strong. Garcia left OM in May 2019 and, five months later, was appointed Lyon coach after Sylvinho's brief reign.

Date of birth: 12 May 1976
Nationality: Portuguese
Coaching career: Vitória FC (youth), GDR 1.º Maio (youth), Fazendense (assistant), Comércio e Indústria, Benfica (youth, B team), Shabab Al-Ahli Dubai (U19, B team), Sheffield Wednesday (assistant), Swansea (assistant), Benfica B, Benfica

• Born in Setubal, hometown of José Mourinho, Bruno Miguel Silva do Nascimento uses Lage as a family name in homage to his father, former local player and coach Fernando Lage. With a low-key playing career in local clubs, Bruno hung up his boots early and graduated with a degree in physical education; started his coaching career aged just 21 as youth-team assistant at Setubal side Vitória FC.

• After spells with several local youth clubs, he got the first-team job at non-professional Comércio e Indústria in 2001/02, moving on to Benfica in 2004. In eight years at the Eagles he coached all youth levels, winning the 2008/09 Under-15 and 2010/11 U17 league championships with teams featuring the likes of Bruno Varela, João Cancelo, Bernardo Silva, Rony Lopes and Hélder Costa.

• Opted for a new challenge in summer 2012 with UAE side Shabab Al-Ahli Dubai, coaching their Under-19 and B teams over two years; then linked up with Carlos Carvalhal in England, working as assistant to his compatriot at both Sheffield Wednesday (2015–17) and Swansea (2018).

• Returned to Portugal after eight years abroad and was unveiled as the new coach of Benfica B in July 2018; only took charge of 15 matches before replacing Rui Vitória as head coach of the first team on 3 January 2019; given the job full time on 14 January and signed a contract until 2023 the following month.

• Lage – who has written two books on training and grassroots football, one of them with Carvalhal – took over with Benfica fourth in the Liga, seven points behind Porto; 18 wins and a draw in 19 matches later, the Eagles claimed their 37th league title having scored 103 goals, equalling the club record, with Lage voted coach of the season by his top-flight coaching colleagues and club captains.

UEFA Champions League: Did you know?

Overall records
• In 2012/13, Chelsea became the first defending champions to fail to get through a group stage since the UEFA Champions League began. (This record, like the others, includes the seasons between 1999/2000 and 2002/03 that featured a second group stage). In 1992/93, Barcelona were the reigning European Champion Clubs' Cup holders and lost 4-3 on aggregate in the second round to CSKA Moskva.

• In 2016/17 Real Madrid became the first team to successfully defend the UEFA Champions League trophy, with AC Milan (1989, 1990) the previous club to win consecutive European Cups. Milan (1994, 1995), Ajax (1995, 1996), Juventus (1996, 1997) and Manchester United (2008, 2009) have all returned to the UEFA Champions League final as holders only to lose.

• Real Madrid then made it three wins in a row in 2017/18, becoming the fourth club to win three or more successive titles in European Cup history, and the first to do it twice.

• Only two teams have ever won the UEFA Champions League on home soil: Borussia Dortmund (1997, final in Munich) and Juventus (1996, final in Rome), while Manchester United lost the 2011 final in London and 12 months later Bayern were beaten in the showpiece in their own stadium, the Fußball Arena München.

Group stage
• Barcelona have finished as group winners on 20 occasions, four more than Real Madrid and five more than Bayern München and Manchester United. Barça also hold the record for the most unbeaten group stage campaigns with 12, four more than Real Madrid.

• Bayern München (2 April 2013 to 27 November 2013) and Real Madrid (23 April 2014 to 18 February 2015) jointly hold the record for successive wins in the UEFA Champions League proper with ten. Bayern surpassed the previous mark of nine, set by Barcelona between 18 September 2002 and 18 February 2003.

• Six teams have recorded six successive victories in a UEFA Champions League group stage: Milan (1992/93), Paris Saint-Germain (1994/95), Spartak Moskva (1995/96), Barcelona (2002/03, first group stage) and Real Madrid (2011/12 and 2014/15).

• Twenty-one teams have gone through a UEFA Champions League group stage without picking up a single point, most recently AEK Athens in 2018/19.

• In 2017/18, Paris Saint-Germain set a new group stage record by scoring 25 goals, with Liverpool (23) also eclipsing the old mark of 21 set by Borussia Dortmund in 2016/17. Manchester United (1998/99), Barcelona (2011/12, 2016/17) and Real Madrid (2013/14) all managed 20.

• Only Deportivo La Coruña (2004/05), Maccabi Haifa (2009/10) and Dinamo Zagreb (2016/17) have failed to score in a group stage.

• BATE Borisov conceded 24 goals in 2014/15, a new group stage record which was matched by Legia Warszawa in 2016/17. The previous mark, 22, was held by Dinamo Zagreb (2011/12) and Nordsjælland (2012/13); Malmö shipped 21 in 2015/16.

• No team has ever gone through a UEFA Champions League group stage without conceding a goal. Milan (1992/93), Ajax (1995/96), Juventus (1996/97 and 2004/05), Chelsea (2005/06), Liverpool (2005/06), Villarreal (2005/06), Manchester United (2010/11), Monaco (2014/15), Paris Saint-Germain (2015/16) and Barcelona (2017/18) all let in just one.

• Matchday six of the 2013/14 marked FCSB's 23rd successive game in the competition without a victory, surpassing the previous record of 22 set by Spartak Moskva between December 2000 and November 2006.

• Anderlecht hold the unwanted record for successive defeats in the competition, group stage to final, having lost 12 in a row between December 2003 and November 2005. Dinamo Zagreb are next with 11 consecutive losses on two occasions, from September 2011 to November 2012 and ongoing since September 2015.

• The lowest total for a team qualifying from the group stage is six points: Zenit in 2013/14 and Roma in 2015/16. Since three points for a win was introduced in 1995/96, nine teams have made it through with seven points: Legia Warszawa (1995/96), Dynamo Kyiv (1999/2000), Liverpool (2001/02, second group stage), in 2002/03 Lokomotiv Moskva (first group stage) and eventual finalists Juventus (second group stage), Rangers and Werder Bremen (2005/06), Galatasaray (2013/14) and Basel (2014/15).

• Napoli failed to qualify from their group with 12 points in 2013/14, the highest total of any team not to reach the next stage when the top two in each section progressed. Dynamo Kyiv (1999/2000, second group stage), Borussia Dortmund (2002/03, second group stage), PSV Eindhoven (2003/04), Olympiacos and Dynamo Kyiv (both 2004/05), Werder Bremen (2006/07), Manchester City (2011/12), Chelsea and Cluj (both 2012/13), Benfica (2013/14) and Porto (2015/16) all missed out with ten points.

Goalscoring records
• Lionel Messi became the first player to score five goals in a match in Barcelona's 7-1 win against Bayer Leverkusen on 7 March 2012, a feat matched by Shakhtar Donetsk's Luiz Adriano at BATE Borisov on 21 October 2014. Eleven more players, also including Messi, have scored four times in a game, most recently Cristiano Ronaldo for Real Madrid on matchday six in 2015/16.

• Cristiano Ronaldo set a new record for a UEFA Champions League group stage with 11 goals in 2015/16, eclipsing his own mark of nine in 2013/14, which Luiz Adriano matched in 2014/15 and Ronaldo himself equalled in 2017/18. Lionel Messi got ten goals in 2016/17; Zlatan Ibrahimović (2013/14), Ruud van Nistelrooy (2004/05), Filippo Inzaghi, Hernán Crespo (both 2002/03) and Robert Lewandowski (2018/19) managed eight.

• Messi's hat-trick against PSV Eindhoven on matchday one of the 2018/19 competition was his eighth in the competition, a mark Ronaldo matched against Atlético Madrid in that season's round of 16 second leg.

Oldest and youngest players
• Lazio goalkeeper Marco Ballotta is the oldest player to compete in the UEFA Champions League having featured against Real Madrid on matchday six in 2007/08 aged 43 years and 252 days. Alessandro Costacurta is the oldest outfield player; the Milan defender was 40 years and 211 days when he played against AEK Athens in 2006/07.

• Francesco Totti is the oldest player to score in the competition, aged 38 years and 59 days, in Roma's 1-1 draw at CSKA Moskva on 25 November 2014. Ryan Giggs (37 years 290 days) was the previous record holder.

• Celestine Babayaro is the youngest player to have appeared; he was 16 years and 87 days when he started for Anderlecht against Steaua Bucureşti on 23 November 1994. He was sent off in the 37th minute.

• Peter Ofori-Quaye is the youngest player to have scored in the UEFA Champions League, aged 17 years and 195 days. He found the net in Olympiacos's 5-1 defeat at Rosenborg on 1 October 1997.

Olympique Lyonnais
Formed: 1950
Nickname: Les Gones (The Kids)

UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets)
• UEFA Intertoto Cup (1): 1997

Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets)
League title: 7 (2008)
French Cup: 5 (2012)
League Cup: 1 (2001)

Ten-year European record (UEFA Champions League unless indicated otherwise)
2018/19: round of 16
2017/18: UEFA Europa League round of 16
2016/17: UEFA Europa League semi-finals (having transferred from UEFA Champions League group stage)
2015/16: group stage
2014/15: UEFA Europa League play-offs
2013/14: UEFA Europa League quarter-finals (having transferred from UEFA Champions League play-offs)
2012/13: UEFA Europa League round of 32
2011/12: round of 16
2010/11: round of 16
2009/10: semi-finals

Records
UEFA club competition
• Biggest home win
7-0: Lyon v Red Boys Differdange
17/09/74, UEFA Cup first round first leg

• Biggest away win
1-7: Dinamo Zagreb v Lyon
07/12/11, UEFA Champions League group stage

• Heaviest home defeat
2-5: Lyon v Borussia Mönchengladbach
05/11/74, UEFA Cup second round second leg
0-3 twice, most recently v Bayern München
27/04/10, UEFA Champions League semi-final second leg

• Heaviest away defeat
5-1: Barcelona v Lyon
13/03/19, UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg
4-0 three times, most recently v Real Madrid
18/10/11, UEFA Champions League group stage

UEFA Champions League (group stage to final only)
• Biggest home win
7-2: Lyon v Werder Bremen
08/03/05, round of 16 second leg
5-0 twice, most recently v Sparta Praha
08/12/04, group stage

• Biggest away win
1-7: Dinamo Zagreb v Lyon (see above)

• Heaviest home defeat
0-3 twice, most recently v Bayern München (see above)

• Heaviest away defeat
5-1: Barcelona v Lyon (see above)
4-0: Real Madrid v Lyon (see above)

SL Benfica
Formed: 1904
Nickname: As Águias (The Eagles)

UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets)
• European Cup (2): 1961, 1962, (1963), (1965), (1968), (1988), (1990)
• UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League: (1983), (2013), (2014)

Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets)
League title: 37 (2019)
Portuguese Cup: 26 (2017)

Ten-year European record (UEFA Champions League unless indicated otherwise)
2018/19: UEFA Europa League quarter-finals (having transferred from UEFA Champions League group stage)
2017/18: group stage
2016/17: round of 16
2015/16: quarter-finals
2014/15: group stage
2013/14: UEFA Europa League runners-up (having transferred from UEFA Champions League group stage)
2012/13: UEFA Europa League runners-up (having transferred from UEFA Champions League group stage)
2011/12: quarter-finals
2010/11: UEFA Europa League semi-finals (having transferred from UEFA Champions League group stage)
2009/10: UEFA Europa League quarter-finals

Records
UEFA club competition
• Biggest home win
10-0: Benfica v Stade Dudelange
05/10/65, European Champion Clubs' Cup preliminary round second leg

• Biggest away win
0-8: Stade Dudelange v Benfica
30/09/65, European Champion Clubs' Cup preliminary round first leg

• Heaviest home defeat
1-5: Benfica v Manchester United
09/03/66, European Champion Clubs' Cup quarter-finals second leg

• Heaviest away defeat
7-0: Celta Vigo v Benfica
25/11/99, UEFA Cup third round first leg

UEFA Champions League (group stage to final only)
• Biggest home win
3-0: Benfica v Celtic
01/11/06, group stage

• Biggest away win
0-2 three times, most recently v Dynamo Kyiv
19/10/16, group stage

• Heaviest home defeat
0-2 four times, most recently v Bayern
19/09/18, group stage

• Heaviest away defeat
5-0: Basel v Benfica
27/09/17, group stage