Despite their 3-1 loss in the reverse fixture, three successive victories without conceding a goal – a 2-0 triumph versus Zenit St. Petersburg and two 3-0 wins against Club Brugge – mean that Borussia Dortmund will go into their home game with Lazio on Wednesday evening (kick-off 21:00 CET) knowing a win will see them top the group with a game to spare. A draw would put them through to the knockouts – but the group winner would not be determined until the final matchday. Here are the match facts.

The scenario

  • BVB have won all three of their matches without conceding a single goal since their opening-day defeat in Rome.
  • Dortmund top the group with nine points, while Lazio have eight and Brugge have four. Zenit, who have already been eliminated, have only one point. The winner of the match at Signal Iduna Park will definitely qualify for the last 16, while both sides will progress with a draw if Brugge do not beat Zenit in the group's other game.

History

  • There had only ever been one meeting between the clubs prior to the reverse fixture – with Borussia Dortmund sealing an aggregate win in the 1994/95 UEFA Cup quarter-finals. A Steffen Freund own goal handed Lazio a 1-0 victory in the first leg, but a Stéphane Chapuisat penalty and a 90th-minute goal from former Lazio forward Karl-Heinz Riedle in the second leg fired the Black & Yellows into the next round.

BVB facts

  • Lucien Favre's charges finished second in the group behind Barcelona last season. Seven of their 10 points came on home turf, where both Inter Milan and Slavia Prague were beaten.
  • BVB have won seven of their last 11 Champions League matches. All four defeats during that time came on the road.
  • Borussia have won their last five home games in the competition.
  • Dortmund have an even home record against Italian opposition, with seven wins, three draws and seven defeats in their 17 home games against clubs from Serie A.
  • Erling Haaland, who has scored in all four group games to date, has netted in nine of his 10 appearances in the group stages (for Dortmund and Salzburg), scoring 14 goals in total.

Lazio facts

  • This is the sixth time that Lazio, who finished fourth in Italy last season, have been in the UEFA Champions League. Their last involvement came in 2007/08, when they finished bottom of their group with five points from six matches. Their previous participations all came between 1999 and 2004. 
  • Lazio's overall record in the group stages stands at 14 wins, nine draws and 11 defeats.
  • The Rome-based club have seven wins from their 15 matches against German opponents (three draws, five defeats), but only one of those was in Germany – a 2-0 win in Stuttgart in the 2012/13 UEFA Europa League last 16. They have lost their last two away games against Bundesliga clubs, the most recent of which was a 4-1 defeat at Eintracht Frankfurt in the 2018/19 UEL group stages.