Barcelona v Dortmund facts

Group F leaders Barcelona were held to a frustrating home draw last time out but can put that behind them by qualifying for the round of 16 – although second-placed Borussia Dortmund stand in their way, and could also seal their place in the knockout stages on Matchday 5.

• The teams played out a 0-0 draw in Germany on Matchday 1, although Barcelona only escaped with a point thanks to Marc-André ter Stegen's penalty save from Marco Reus.

• Unbeaten Barça have eight points, one more than Dortmund, with Internazionale on four and Slavia Praha, who host the Italian club on Matchday 5, on two. Barcelona will be through if they beat Dortmund, if both games are drawn, or if Slavia beat Inter, and will clinch first place with a win; Dortmund will be through if they beat Barcelona.

Previous meetings
• The sides had met in only two UEFA matches before this season, in the 1997 UEFA Super Cup – although the games took place in early 1998 – which UEFA Cup Winners' Cup holders Barcelona won 3-1 on aggregate.

• First-leg goals from Luis Enrique and Rivaldo, the latter a penalty, earned the Spanish side a 2-0 victory at the Camp Nou, Giovanni extending that advantage six minutes into the return at the Westfalenstadion; a 64th-minute Jörg Heinrich goal was all Dortmund, then reigning UEFA Champions League winners, could muster in return.

Form guide
Barcelona
• The Spanish side came from behind to beat Inter 2-1 at the Camp Nou in their second fixture, and won by the same scoreline at Slavia Praha on Matchday 3 before the Czech champions held out for a goalless draw at the Camp Nou in the fourth round of matches.

• The draw against Slavia was the first time Barcelona had failed to score at home in the UEFA Champions League group stage since another goalless draw, against Benfica on Matchday 6 of the 2012/13 competition.

• Barcelona are unbeaten in 34 UEFA Champions League home matches, a run that started in September 2013 (W30 D4); the 5-1 defeat of Lyon in last season's round of 16 second leg eclipsed the previous competition record of 29 set by Bayern München between March 1998 and April 2002.

• Barcelona have won their last three matches against German clubs at the Camp Nou, scoring nine goals and conceding only one, and 13 of the last 14; the exception was a 0-3 loss to Bayern München in the 2012/13 UEFA Champions League semi-final second leg (0-7 aggregate). Most recently, they beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 4-0 in the 2016/17 group stage, Lionel Messi opening the scoring.

• Spanish champions for the 26th time in 2018/19, their fourth title in five years, this is Barcelona's 24th UEFA Champions League group campaign, a competition record they share with Real Madrid. They last failed to qualify from their group in 2000/01 and have reached the round of 16 or better for the last 15 seasons, winning their group in each of the last 12.

• In 2018/19, Barcelona finished first ahead of Tottenham, Inter and PSV Eindhoven in Group B, picking up 14 points – seven of them at home. They eased past Lyon in the last 16 (0-0 a, 5-1 h) and Manchester United in the quarter-finals (1-0 a, 3-0 h) before a 3-0 first-leg victory against Liverpool in the last four, only for the English club to turn the tables in stunning style at Anfield (0-4).

• Defeat on Merseyside ended Barcelona's 11-match unbeaten run in the UEFA Champions League (W8 D3). They have lost only two of their last 27 UEFA Champions League fixtures (W16 D9).

• Barcelona have been European champions on five occasions, most recently in 2015.

Dortmund
• Dortmund have won only three of their last nine UEFA Champions League matches (D2 L4), including two this season; a 2-0 success at Slavia on Matchday 2 and a 3-2 home defeat of Inter last time out. Those are the only two of their last six matches in the competition in which they have scored; they were beaten 2-0 at Inter in their other away fixture.

• Second in the Bundesliga in 2018/19, this is Dortmund's 14th UEFA Champions League campaign; they were winners in 1997, and runners-up in 2013. BVB have reached the round of 16 in five of their last six participations.

• In last season's group stage, Lucien Favre's side won at Club Brugge (1-0) and Monaco (2-0) either side of a 2-0 loss at Atlético Madrid that featured the only goals scored against them in their six matches. Dortmund conceded the fewest goals in the group stage (two) and kept the most clean sheets (five), but got no further than the last 16, losing both legs against Tottenham (0-3 a, 0-1 h).

• Dortmund have managed only three victories in their last 14 European away matches (D4 L7), although all of those wins have come in their last six matches (L3) – and all in the UEFA Champions League.

• Defeat at Atlético last season extended Dortmund's poor run of results in Spain. They have won just once in 15 previous visits (D5 L9) and have lost four of their last five matches there. The solitary success was a 1-0 victory at Atlético in the 1996/97 UEFA Champions League group stage, courtesy of a Stefan Reuter goal – the season they went on to lift the trophy.

• The home win against Atlético on Matchday 3 in 2018/19 is Dortmund's only victory in seven matches against Liga clubs, home and away (D3 L3).

Links and trivia
• Ousmane Dembélé made 32 Bundesliga appearances, scoring six times, for Dortmund in 2016/17 before joining Barcelona.

• Have also played in Germany:
Marc-André ter Stegen (Borussia Mönchengladbach 2011–14)
Arturo Vidal (Bayer Leverkusen 2007–11, Bayern München 2015–18)
Ivan Rakitić (Schalke 2007–11)

• Paco Alcácer scored ten goals in 37 Liga appearance for Barcelona between 2016 and 2018, winning the domestic double in 2017/18 in addition to the Copa del Rey the previous season.

• Achraf Hakimi is on loan at Dortmund from Real Madrid.

• Frenkie de Jong scored in the Netherlands' 4-2 win away to a Germany side including Marco Reus, Nico Schulz and substitute Julian Brandt in UEFA EURO 2020 qualifying on 6 September.

• International team-mates:
Mats Hummels, Julian Brandt, Mahmoud Dahoud, Marco Reus, Nico Schulz & Marc-André ter Stegen (Germany)
Sergio Busquets, Sergi Roberto, Jordi Alba & Paco Alcácer (Spain)
Nélson Semedo & Raphaël Guerreiro (Portugal)

Latest news

Barcelona
• Barcelona have lost just one of their last 11 matches in all competitions (W9 D1), a 3-1 defeat at Levante on 2 November. They came from behind to win 2-1 at Leganés on Saturday, Luis Suárez and Arturo Vidal getting the goals.

• Barça are unbeaten in 28 matches in all competitions at the Camp Nou (W24 D4), since a 4-3 loss against Real Betis on 11 November 2018.

• Lionel Messi has scored 11 times in his last ten games for club and country, including a hat-trick against Celta Vigo before the international break and a goal in each of Argentina's friendlies against Brazil (1-0) and Uruguay (2-2).

• Uruguay's Suárez also scored in the 2-2 draw with Argentina on 18 November.

• Frenkie de Jong played 90 minutes in Northern Ireland on 16 November as the Netherlands secured their place at UEFA EURO 2020 with a 0-0 draw.

• Antoine Griezmann and Clément Lenglet played the full 90 minutes of France's UEFA EURO 2020 qualifiers against Moldova (2-1) and Albania (2-0). Griezmann scored in the latter – his 30th international goal but first as a Barça player – as Les Bleus secured first place in their group.

• Samuel Umtiti made his first appearance of the season at Eibar on 19 October (3-0) after recovering from a foot injury, but was then out until 9 November with a knee problem.

• Nélson Semedo has been out of action since being substituted early on in a 4-1 victory against Celta on 9 November due to a calf injury.

• Jordi Alba has not played since being withdrawn at half-time on Matchday 4 with a hamstring problem.

• Ivan Rakitić, who had been out since Matchday 4 with an Achilles injury, returned as a second-half substitute at Leganés.

• Lenglet missed the game at Leganés with a calf strain.

• Ansu Fati became the second youngest player to appear for Barça in the Liga when he made his debut aged 16 years 298 days in a 5-2 victory against Real Betis on 25 August. Six days later, the teenager then became the club's youngest Liga goalscorer, aged 16 years 304 days, in a 2-2 draw with Osasuna that made him the third youngest Liga goalscorer of all time.

• Fati is also the youngest player to appear in this season's UEFA Champions League, making his competition debut on Matchday 1 against Dortmund aged 16 years 321 days.

• Messi was named Forward of the Season for the 2018/19 UEFA Champions League in Monaco on 29 August; De Jong collected the Midfielder's award for his performances with Ajax last season.

Dortmund
• On Friday Dortmund came from three goals down at half-time to draw 3-3 at home to Paderborn, Axel Witsel (84) and Marco Reus (90+2) scoring late goals to salvage a point.

• Dortmund have 20 points from their first 12 Bundesliga games this season, ten less than at the same stage of 2018/19.

• Four days after the win against Inter, Dortmund went down 4-0 at Bayern München.

• In the European Qualifiers, Thorgan Hazard scored for Belgium in a 4-1 win in Russia on 16 November.

• Three days later, Julian Brandt scored the final goal in Germany's 6-1 success against Northern Ireland.

• Manuel Akanji started both of Switzerland's qualifying wins against Georgia (1-0) and Gibraltar (6-1) that sealed their place at UEFA EURO 2020.

• On 18 November Thomas Delaney had to be substituted 13 minutes into Denmark's decisive UEFA EURO 2020 qualifier away to the Republic of Ireland having suffered an ankle injury; the Danes drew 1-1 to reach next summer's finals. Delaney missed Dortmund's weekend draw.

• Paco Alcácer limped off with a knee injury late in the first half against Paderborn, a game Jacob Bruun Larsen missed with a similar problem.

• Reus missed both of Germany's European Qualifiers against Belarus and Northern Ireland due to an ankle injury, but recovered to play the full game against Paderborn.

• Marcel Schmelzer has not played since 5 October due to a hip injury, but has also returned to training; he was an unused substitute on Friday.