Barça has always done well in Champions League games in Lisbon

When Barça visits Sporting on Wednesday night in Lisbon in their second fixture of the 2017-18 UEFA Champions League, the all-Iberian encounter will not only feature two teams in fine form, it will also showcase two of the world’s premier goal scorers in Leo Messi and Bas Dost. But before the game is played, we wanted to take a look at some of the curious numbers surrounding Barça’s historical performance on Matchday Two in the Champions League era (since the 1992-93 edition) and other stats surrounding this intriguing continental matchup.

• In the Champions League era, FC Barcelona has a 7-2-4 record in Group Stage Matchday Two away games.

• Curiously, Barça has played more Champions League Matchday 2 road games against clubs from Germany than any other country:

Games – Club Country – Barça’s record (W-D-L)

4 — Germany — 2-1-1
2 — Turkey — 1-0-1
1 — Belarus — 1-0-0
1 — Portugal — 1-0-0
1 — Scotland — 1-0-0
1 — Ukraine — 1-0-0
1 — Russia — 0-1-0
1 — France — 0-0-1
1 — Sweden — 0-0-1

• As you can see, of the 13 Matchday Two games Barça has played on the road, just one came against a Portuguese team:

Date: October 2nd, 2012
Venue: Estádio da Luz (Lisbon)
Score: Benfica 0, Barça 2
Goals: Barça – Alexis Sánchez 6, Cesc Fàbregas 55

• Barça will be back in Lisbon on Wednesday night to face the city’s other team, Sporting CP. Barça and Sporting have met just twice before in the UEFA Champions League, with both games coming in the 2008/09 group stage (one home and one away). Barça won at Camp Nou, 3–1. Here is the away game:

Date: November 26th, 2008
Matchday: 5
Score: Sporting 2, Barça 5
Venue: Estádio José Alvalade (Lisbon)
Goals: Sporting – Miguel Veloso 65, Liedson 66; Barça – Henry 14, Piqué 17, Messi 49, Marco Caneira 67 (og), Bojan Krkić 73 (P)

• Beyond the group stage, Barça, historically, has done very well on the road against Portuguese teams in all stages. In addition to the two victories outlined above, here are the others:

Date: March 7th, 2000
Stage: 2nd Group Stage
Score: FC Porto 0, Barça 2
Venue: Estádio das Antas
Goals: Abelardo 37, Rivaldo 59

Date: March 28th, 2006
Stage: Quarterfinals (2nd leg)
Score: Benfica 0, Barça 0 (agg. 0-2)
Venue: Estádio da Luz
Goals: n/a

This last match is one of the more memorable ones for Barça fans, as it allowed Barça to move on to the semifinals en route to winning the 2006 Champions League title, the Club’s second European Cup. It was that championship that marked the beginning of the current era, during which the team has added three more Champions League titles to its tally, thus cementing Barça’s status as one of the great dynasties in football history.

To further test your Barça knowledge with respect to matches against Portuguese teams across all competitions, take our quiz!