Real Madrid vs Union Berlin Match Stats Preview
This will be the first ever competitive meeting between Real Madrid and 1. FC Union Berlin, with the German side set to become Real's 150th different opponent in all European competition.
Union Berlin are the fifth side to face Real Madrid in their first ever UEFA Champions League match, with each of the previous four losing (Internazionale 1998, Roma 2001, BATE Borisov 2008, Zürich 2009).
In UEFA Champions League history, Real Madrid have played the most games (304), had the most wins (182), scored the most goals (641) and have the highest win rate (60%).
Real Madrid have reached the knockout stages in all 27 of their previous appearances in the UEFA Champions League. This is the 27th consecutive campaign they've appeared in the competition, last failing to do so in 1996-97.
Union Berlin will be the 15th different German side to feature in the UEFA Champions League, the most unique clubs to feature of any nation. Only three of the 14 previous German teams to play in the competition have won their first ever game (D4 L7), with Bayer Leverkusen (1997-98), Kaiserslautern (1998-99) and Wolfsburg (2009-10) doing so.
Real Madrid have won on 12 of the 13 occasions when their opening game of a UEFA Champions League campaign has been played at home, although that defeat came in the most recent one – a 3-2 loss against Shakhtar Donetsk in 2020-21.
Real Madrid have only failed to score in one of their last 68 home games in the UEFA Champions League, doing so in a 3-0 loss to CSKA Moscow in December 2018.
Union Berlin have only lost one of their last eight matches in European competition (W5 D2), although that defeat did come in their most recent fixture – a 3-0 away defeat to Union Saint-Gilloise in last season’s UEFA Europa League last 16 second leg.
Since the start of the 2019-20 campaign, Rodrygo has the best minutes per goal involvement ratio of any Real Madrid player in the UEFA Champions League (min. 500 minutes played), averaging a goal or assist every 86 minutes (15 goals and eight assists).
Real Madrid’s Toni Kroos made more line-breaking passes than any other player in the UEFA Champions League last term (211), while he also had the highest pass completion rate of any midfielder to have played at least 500 minutes in 2022-23 (93.8%).
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