Real Madrid vs Union Berlin match facts

Matchday 1 in Group C of the UEFA Champions League brings together the most successful club in the competition's history, Real Madrid, with newcomers Union Berlin.

While the Spanish side have won 14 European Cups and are in the group stage for the 27th season in a row, this is Union's first game in the competition – and just their 23rd UEFA fixture overall.

This is the sides' first meeting – indeed, neither Matchday 1 fixture in Group C, which is completed by Braga and Napoli, has been played before.

Form guide

Real Madrid

Record vs German clubs: W37 D14 L24 F143 A115
Home record vs German clubs: W27 D6 L3

Madrid were paired with German opponents in last season's group stage, beating Leipzig 2-0 at the Santiago Bernabéu on Matchday 2 before a 3-2 away loss on Matchday 5.

That ended Madrid's 13-match unbeaten run against Bundesliga clubs, home and away (W9 D4).

A 4-3 defeat by Schalke in the 2014/15 round of 16 second leg (5-4 aggregate) is Madrid's sole reverse in their last 20 home games against German teams (W15 D4).

Carlo Ancelotti's side also beat German opponents in the 2022 UEFA Super Cup, defeating Eintracht Frankfurt 2-0 in Helsinki.

This is Real Madrid's 28th Champions League group stage campaign, a competition record they share with Barcelona. They last missed out in 1996/97.

Madrid have qualified for the knockout rounds in all 27 of their previous Champions League campaigns.

Having claimed the club's 14th European Cup – and eighth Champions League, also a competition record – in 2021/22, Ancelotti's side then finished first in their Champions League section last season, winning four of their six games (D1 L1) before beating Liverpool in the round of 16 (5-2 a, 1-0 h). That set up a second successive quarter-final against Chelsea, Madrid winning 2-0 home and away, before a repeat of their 2021/22 semi-final against Manchester City, which this time went in the English side's favour (1-1 h, 0-4 a).

That 4-0 loss in Manchester equalled Madrid's biggest European defeat.

The Spanish side have won 14 of their last 21 home European games (D3 L4) and 13 of the most recent 17 (D2 L2).

The Merengues ceded the Spanish title to Barcelona, finishing ten points behind their great rivals in the Liga standings.

Union Berlin

This is Union's first game against a Spanish club.

Union earned their European Cup debut by finishing fourth in the Bundesliga in 2022/23 – their highest league finish.

Union and Antwerp in Group H are the only clubs to be making their first Champions League group appearance in 2022/23.

This is Union's third successive season in UEFA competition and just their fourth overall.

Having reached the UEFA Europa Conference League group stage in 2021/22, their first continental campaign in 20 years, Die Eisernen took part in the UEFA Europa League group stage in 2022/23. Second in their section behind Belgium's Union Saint-Gilloise, they impressively eliminated Ajax in the knockout round play-offs (0-0 a, 3-1 h) only to lose their last-16 reunion with Union SG (3-3 h, 0-3 a).

Union won two of their five away European matches in 2022/23 (D1 L2). That doubled their total number of away victories overall to four (D3 L4).

Urs Fischer's side collected 62 points in the 2022/23 Bundesliga, nine behind champions Bayern München.

Links and trivia

Leonardo Bonucci faced Real Madrid in the Champions League five times for Juventus, most notably in the 2016/17 final in which a side including Dani Carvajal, Luka Modrić and Toni Kroos won 4-1 in Cardiff.

Josip Juranović played 90 minutes in both games as Celtic lost 3-0 at home and 5-1 away against Madrid in last season's Champions League group stage.

Ancelotti was Bayern coach between 2016 and 2018, winning the Bundesliga in 2016/17 and two German Super Cups.

Fischer won four caps for Switzerland as a player, one in a 2-1 friendly loss to Spain on 13 December 1989. The victorious Spanish side included Chendo, now Madrid's first-team delegate, and Emilio Butragueño, the club's current director of institutional relations.

Have played together:
Aurélien Tchouaméni & Kevin Volland (Monaco 2020–22)
Ferland Mendy & Lucas Tousart (Lyon 2017–19)
Éder Militão & Diogo Leite (Porto 2018/19)
Antonio Rüdiger & Rani Khedira (Stuttgart 2011–14)

Rani Khedira is the brother of Sami, who played for Real Madrid between 2010 and 2015, winning the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League, the 2014 UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup, the 2011/12 Liga and the Copa del Rey in 2011 and 2014.

Real Madrid forward Joselu was born in Stuttgart, living in Germany until his family returned to Spain when he was four.

Have played in Germany:
David Alaba (Bayern 2008–21; Hoffenheim 2011 loan)
Antonio Rüdiger (Stuttgart 2011–15)
Toni Kroos (Bayern 2006–14, Leverkusen 2009–10 loan)
Jude Bellingham (Dortmund 2020–23)
Joselu (Hoffenheim 2012–14, Eintracht Frankfurt 2013/14 loan, Hannover 2014/15)
Dani Carvajal (Leverkusen 2012/13)

International team-mates:
Antonio Rüdiger & Robin Gosens, Kevin Volland (Germany)
Luka Modrić & Josip Juranović (Croatia)
David Alaba & Christopher Trimmel (Austria)

Spain, with Carvajal and Joselu coming on as substitutes and Fran García and Kepa Arrizabalaga unused replacements, beat a Croatia side including Juranović and Modrić in the UEFA Nations League final on 18 June. Carvajal, Joselu and Modrić all scored in the penalty shoot-out.

Three days earlier, Joselu scored Spain's winner in a 2-1 semi-final defeat of Bonucci's Italy. Carvajal, Kepa and Fran García were unused substitutes.

Juranović and Modrić were in the Croatia side that eliminated a Brazil team featuring Vinícius Júnior, Rodrygo and Éder Militão in the 2022 FIFA World Cup quarter-finals. Modrić scored his penalty in the shoot-out, while Rodrygo missed his as Croatia won 4-2 after a 1-1 draw.

Modrić scored Croatia's first goal in a 3-1 Nations League win away to an Austria side including Alaba and Trimmel on 25 September 2022.

András Schäfer scored for Hungary in a 2-2 draw against Germany, whose side included Rüdiger and Kroos, in the UEFA EURO 2020 group stage. Schäfer's Union Berlin team-mates Gosens and Volland also played for Germany.

Alaba was on target in Austria's 2-0 friendly win against Bonucci's Italy on 20 November 2022.

Bonucci provided the assist in Italy's 1-0 win over Jude Bellingham's England in the Nations League on 23 September 2022.

Bonucci also scored from the penalty spot against Kroos' Germany in the UEFA EURO 2016 quarter-finals. Germany eventually won 6-5 on penalties, Bonucci missing in the shoot-out and Kroos converting.

Kroos scored for Germany in a 4-1 win over Bonucci's Italy in a March 2016 friendly. Rüdiger and Volland also represented Germany.

Kroos and Bonucci both provided assists in a 1-1 draw between Italy and Germany in a friendly on 15 November 2013.

Latest news

Real Madrid

Summer signings
In: Jude Bellingham (Dortmund), Fran García (Rayo Vallecano), Joselu (Espanyol, loan), Arda Güler (Fenerbahçe), Kepa Arrizabalaga (Chelsea, loan)
Out: Karim Benzema (Al-Ittihad), Marco Asensio (Paris), Eden Hazard (released), Jesús Vallejo (Granada, loan), Antonio Blanco (Alavés), Sergio Arribas (Almería), Reinier (Frosinone, loan), Álvaro Odriozola (Real Sociedad), Mariano Díaz (Sevilla)

Real Madrid have won all five of their La Liga matches this season, scoring ten goals and conceding just three. They came from behind to beat Real Sociedad 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabéu on Sunday thanks to second-half goals from Federico Valverde and Joselu.

Having scored against Almería on his Real Madrid debut on 21 May 2011 and also found the net against Getafe (2-1) and Real Sociedad since returning in the summer, Joselu has become only the second Real Madrid player to score in his first three home Liga games this century, after Isco in 2013.

Valverde's goal was his first for Madrid since 18 February, ending a run of 25 club games without finding the net.

Bellingham has five goals in his first five games in Spain, scoring in the first four La Liga fixtures.

Bellingham also scored a goal and provided an assist in England's friendly win against Scotland in Glasgow on 12 September.

Joselu contributed a goal and an assist in Spain's 6-0 win against Cyprus in UEFA EURO 2024 qualifying on 12 September.

Aurélien Tchouaméni was on target in France's 2-0 win over Republic of Ireland in EURO 2024 qualifying on 7 September.

Rodrygo scored twice and provided an assist in Brazil's 5-1 win against Bolivia in 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifying on 9 September.

The same day, Valverde scored in Uruguay's 3-1 World Cup qualifying win against Chile.

Vinícius Júnior suffered an injury in Madrid's 1-0 Liga win at Celta Vigo on 25 August and has not played since.

Éder Militão suffered a cruciate ligament tear in his left knee in a 2-0 win at Athletic Club on the opening weekend of the season on 12 August and is expected to be out for several months.

Thibaut Courtois ruptured the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee during training in early August.

Summer signing Arda Güler suffered a meniscus injury during pre-season and is still to make his debut.

Ferland Mendy has not played this season due to a hamstring problem.

The 3-1 win at Almería on 19 August made Carlo Ancelotti the coach to have taken charge of the third most league games in Real Madrid's history (154). He overtook Vicente del Bosque (153), and is now behind only Zinédine Zidane (183) and Miguel Muñoz (424).

Luka Modrić was seventh in the vote for UEFA Player of the Year 2022/23.

Modrić, Vinícius Júnior and Bellingham are among the 30 nominees for the Ballon d'Or, which will be awarded on 30 October in Paris.

Union Berlin

Summer signings 
In: Brenden Aaronson (Leeds, loan), Diogo Leite (Porto, loan made permanent), Mikkel Kaufmann (Copenhagen), Lennart Grill (Leverkusen, loaned to Osnabrück), Alex Král (Spartak Moskva, loan), David Datro Fofana (Chelsea, loan), Alexander Schwolow (Hertha Berlin), Lucas Tousart (Hertha Berlin), Benedict Hollerbach (Wehen Wiesbaden), Robin Gosens (Inter), Kevin Volland (Monaco), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus)
Out: Sven Michel (Augsburg), Paul Seguin (Schalke), Levin Öztunali (Hamburg), Kevin Möhwald (Eupen), Niko Gießelmann (Fürth), Tymoteusz Puchacz (Kaiserslautern, loan), Rick van Drongelen (Samsunspor), Jamie Leweling (Stuttgart, loan), Morten Thorsby (Genoa, loan), Keita Endo (Eintracht Braunschweig, loan), Tim Maciejewski (Sandhausen), Miloš Pantović (Eupen), Jordan Siebatcheu (Mönchengladbach, loan), Dominique Heintz (Köln), Tim Skarke (Darmstadt, loan)

Union suffered a second successive defeat on Saturday, going down 2-1 at Wolfsburg. It is the first time they have lost successive league games since February 2022.

After four Bundesliga matchdays Union Berlin's record is two wins and two defeats.

Union started the new season with a 4-1 win against Mainz on 20 August. Kevin Behrens scored three headers, the first player to do so in the Bundesliga since Markus Schroth for Karlsruhe in 1997.

Six days later Union also prevailed 4-1 in Darmstadt, despite playing more than 70 minutes with ten men after the dismissal of Aaronson.

Another summer arrival, Gosens – who also scored on Saturday – marked his full debut for Union with two goals in Darmstadt. Behrens was again on target, again with a header.

On 3 September Urs Fischer's team lost 3-0 at home against Leipzig. Volland was sent off in the second half of what was his full Union debut and 250th Bundesliga appearance.

Before the Leipzig loss Union were unbeaten at home in 24 Bundesliga games (W16 D8) – a club record.

Union were 4-0 winners at fourth-tier Astoria Walldorf in the German Cup first round on 13 August, Diogo Leite scoring his first goal for the club.

On 12 September Aaronson scored for in the United States' 4-0 friendly win against Oman. On the same day Aïssa Laïdouni was on target for Tunisia in a 3-1 friendly win in Egypt.

New signing Tousart made his delayed Union debut as a substitute on Saturday after recovering from a thigh injury suffered on 29 July.

Sheraldo Becker returned as a substitute on Saturday having been out since 26 August with thigh and calf injuries.

Rani Khedira has not played since 13 August due to a calf injury.

Laurenz Dehl has been sidelined since 19 August with an Achilles tendon problem.

András Schäfer has been out since mid-May due to a foot injury that required surgery.

On 7 August, Fischer was voted coach of the year in Germany.