Background: Barcelona's Luis Enrique back at Roma

FC Barcelona begin the defence of their UEFA Champions League title with a visit to the Stadio Olimpico to take on AS Roma on matchday one.

• For Barcelona coach Luis Enrique, the Group E encounter marks a return to the club he managed in 2011/12.

Previous meetings
• Luis Enrique was in the Barcelona side and Francesco Totti wore the Roma armband when the clubs met in the 2001/02 UEFA Champions League second group stage, starting with a 1-1 draw at the Camp Nou, where Patrick Kluivert cancelled out a Christian Panucci goal.

• Roma won the return fixture 3-0 with Emerson, Vincenzo Montella and Damiano Tomassi scoring. Barcelona still won the group, with Roma eliminated in third place.

• The lineups in Rome on 26 February 2002 were:
Roma: Antonioli, Cafu, Panucci, Samuel, Zebina, Lima, Emerson, Candela, Totti (Cassano 87), Delvecchio (Montella 46), Batistuta (Tommasi 72).
Barcelona: Reina, Puyol, Christanval, De Boer, Sergi (Xavi), Cocu, Motta (Overmars 65), Luis Enrique (Rochemback 82), Gerard, Rivaldo, Kluivert.

• Barcelona beat Roma 3-0 in a pre-season friendly at Camp Nou on 5 August this year, with Neymar, Lionel Messi and Ivan Rakitić the scorers.

Match background

Roma
• Second in Serie A last season, Roma are participating in the UEFA Champions League for the second consecutive season. In 2014/15 they finished third in their group and transferred to the UEFA Europa League, where they reached the round of 16.

• Roma lost three out of five home fixtures in Europe last term, including a 7-1 defeat by FC Bayern München in the UEFA Champions League and a 3-0 reverse against ACF Fiorentina in the last 16 of the UEFA Europa League.

• The Giallorossi recorded 2-1 home and away wins over Real Madrid CF when they last faced Spanish opponents in the UEFA Champions League, in the 2007/08 round of 16. Their overall home record against Liga sides is: W6 D0 L5.

Barcelona
• This match comes 102 days since Barcelona beat Juventus to win their fifth European Cup at the Olympiastadion in Berlin.

• Barcelona won four of six away games in last season's competition, scoring in every one (15 goals in total).

• Barcelona have won just one of their last six matches in Italy – 3-2 at AC Milan in the 2011/12 group stage. Their overall record from 20 away matches against Serie A sides is W6 D8 L6.

Coach and player links
• As Roma coach in 2011/12, Luis Enrique oversaw a seventh-placed finish in Serie A.

• As LOSC Lille coach Rudi Garcia lost twice to Valencia CF (0-2 a, 0-1 h) in the 2012/13 group stage. His Lille side had faced a Valencia side then including Jordi Alba in the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League group stage (1-1 h, 1-3 a). For Garcia's LOSC, that campaign ended with defeat in the last 16 by Javier Mascherano's Liverpool FC.

• Seydou Keita was a Barcelona player from 2008–12 and appeared as a substitute in their 2009 and 2011 UEFA Champions League final triumphs as well as winning three Spanish Liga titles.

• Iago Falque began his career in Barcelona's youth ranks but played just one league game for their B team.

• Edin Džeko was in the Manchester City team eliminated by Barcelona at the last-16 stage in 2013/14 and 2014/15.

• Wojciech Szczęsny was beaten twice by Lionel Messi (once from the penalty spot) when Arsenal FC lost 3-1 at Barcelona in a 4-3 aggregate defeat in the 2010/11 round of 16.

• Jordi Alba scored and Sergio Busquets, Andrés Iniesta and Gerard Piqué also played in Spain's 4-0 victory over Daniele De Rossi's Italy in the UEFA EURO 2012 final. De Rossi missed a penalty as Italy lost a shoot-out to Spain in the UEFA EURO 2008 quarter-finals.

• Players who have played together:
Antonio Rüdiger & Marc-André ter Stegen (Germany)
Lucas Digne & Jérémy Mathieu (France)
Radja Nainggolan & Thomas Vermaelen (Belgium)
Emerson Palmieri & Neymar (Santos 2012–13)
Keita & Jérémy Mathieu (Valencia 2014)
Keita & Adriano (Sevilla 2007–08)
Szczęsny & Vermaelen (Arsenal 2010–14)

Match facts

Roma
• Džeko opened his Roma account with the second goal in the Giallorossi's 2-1 home win against Juventus on 30 August.

• Totti's next goal for Roma will be his 300th for the club in all competitions.

• Miralem Pjanić, who started the scoring against Juventus, sustained a calf injury in Bosnia and Herzegovina's 3-0 victory over Andorra in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying on 6 September.

• Elio Capradossi suffered a left knee injury while on international duty with Italy Under-20s and will be out for at least five months.

• Džeko was on target for Bosnia and Herzegovina in their 3-1 loss to Belgium and the defeat of Andorra.

• De Rossi converted a penalty and was sent off as Italy edged Bulgaria 1-0 on 6 September.

Barcelona
• Vermaelen, who missed all but the final Liga game of last season through injury, scored his first goal for Barcelona in the 1-0 win against Málaga CF on 29 August. However, he was forced off with a suspected calf problem just 28 minutes into Saturday's 2-1 defeat of Club Atlético de Madrid.

• Lionel Messi came off the bench to score the winner against Atlético.

• Piqué is serving a four-game Liga ban imposed after his dismissal during the second leg of the Spanish Super Cup against Athletic Club.

• Claudio Bravo is sidelined with a calf problem.

• Messi struck twice in Argentina's 7-0 defeat of Bolivia on 4 September and equalised late on as the Albiceleste drew 2-2 with Mexico four days later.

• Neymar scored twice as Brazil beat the United States 4-1 in Foxborough on 8 September.