SK Rapid Wien v Juventus PRESS KIT Ernst Happel, Vienna Wednesday, 7 December 2005 - 20:45 CET Group A - Matchday 6 The only issue to be resolved in Group A is which team can secure top place in the section - a goal Juventus FC will be striving to achieve on Matchday 6. They share an almost identical record with FC Bayern München who currently occupy top spot by virtue of having conceded one goal less in their five games than the Italian champions. Road ends for Rapid •For SK Rapid Wien the game represents the end of their European journey for this season. Yet the Austrian title holders also have much to play for as they try to arrest a sequence of five straight defeats in the section while continuing to seek an elusive first win in their 12th match in the UEFA Champions League spread over two campaigns. Last meeting •Juventus were comfortable winners on 27 September in the corresponding fixture. Despite being without Patrick Vieira through suspension, they romped home 3-0 with David Trezeguet on the mark in the first half. Further goals arrived from Adrian Mutu and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who scored his first UEFA Champions League goal of the season. Del Piero makes amends •On Matchday 5, Alessandro Del Piero saw Juventus through to the knockout stages with a 1-0 victory against Club Brugge KV. Restored to the side with Ibrahimovic suspended, Del Piero headed the only goal from Pavel Nedvěd's long cross. Last season Juventus were unbeaten group winners but were then eliminated in the quarter­ finals by eventual winners Liverpool FC. • Meanwhile Rapid, who were without the suspended Andreas Dober and the injured Axel Lawaree and Marcin Adamski, lost 4­0 away to Bayern. Two previous pairings • This is the third time the clubs have been drawn together in UEFA competition, meeting first in the third round of the 1971/72 UEFA Cup with Juventus winning 5­1 on aggregate. Roberto Bettega was the outstanding performer over the two legs, scoring four times for the Italian club. • The teams then met in Rapid's other UEFA Champions League season in 1996/97, drawing 1­1 in Vienna when Andrzej Lesiak cancelled out an early goal from Juventus striker Christian Vieri. It was the last point gained by Rapid in the competition. • The return ended in a 5­0 victory for Juventus with Alen Bokšic and Del Piero each scoring twice. It was the fixture that started the Austrian side's current run of eight straight losses in the competition. Four defeats against Italian sides • This is the ninth home game for Rapid against Italian opposition with their record uefa.com 1/36 SK Rapid Wien v Juventus PRESS KIT showing two wins, two draws and four defeats. They last won against FC Internazionale Milano, a 2­1 success in the first round of the 1990/91 UEFA Cup. One loss in Austria • Juventus' record in Austria shows three wins, a draw and a defeat and the loss is still recalled fondly in that country. It came in the preliminary round of the 1958/59 European Champion Clubs' Cup, a stunning 7­0 defeat against Wiener SC, the heaviest in their European history. Team facts: Rapid • Rapid are making their second appearance in the UEFA Champions League group stage having been involved in the 1996/97 season, when they drew two and lost the remaining four of their six matches. Their points both came in Vienna thanks to 1­1 draws against Fenerbahçe SK and Juventus. However, the Austrian side failed to score in their three away defeats, against Manchester United FC (2­0), Juventus (5­0) and Fenerbahçe (1­0). • Rapid featured in a UEFA club competition final as recently as the 1995/96 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup when they lost 1­0 to a Bruno N’Gotty goal after 28 minutes for Paris Saint­Germain FC in Brussels. • From the final of the Cup Winners' Cup to this season, their best performance in UEFA club competition came in the 1997/98 UEFA Cup when they reached the third round of the competition before bowing out 3­0 on aggregate to eventual beaten finalists, S.S. Lazio. • Rapid entered the UEFA Champions League in the second qualifying round after winning last season's Austrian Bundesliga by a point from Grazer AK. It was their 31st championship, but their first since 1995/96 – which was also the last time they advanced to the group stage of the UEFA Champions League. • The Austrian champions overcame F91 Dudelange from Luxembourg in the second qualifying round, running out 9­3 aggregate winners after all but ending the tie with a 6­ 1 away win in the first leg. Strike partners Muhammet Akagündüz and Axel Lawaree both helped themselves to two goals apiece. Rapid allowed Dudelange to take a two­ goal interval lead in the return leg in Vienna, but two goals from Lawaree (47, 81) and another from Matthias Dollinger (86) eased Austrian nerves. • Rapid were held at home in their third qualifying round first leg by Russian champions FC Lokomotiv Moskva, for whom Aleksandr Samedov opened the scoring after nine minutes. Rapid levelled 15 minutes from time through Josef Valachovič and the Slovakian defender was on target in the return leg in Moscow, scoring the only goal of the game six minutes from time to secure Rapid's passage to the group stage for the second time in their history. • But Matchdays 1 and 2 yielded no goals for and four against in two defeats. FC Bayern München won at the Ernst Happel stadium thanks to José Paulo Guerrero's goal uefa.com 2/36 SK Rapid Wien v Juventus PRESS KIT on the hour while 13 days later David Trezeguet (27), Adrian Mutu (82) and Zlatan Ibrahimović (85) were on target for Juventus in a 3­0 win. • More of the same followed on Matchday 3 as Rapid slumped to their third successive defeat in the competition, on this occasion at home to Club Brugge KV for whom Boško Balaban scored the only goal of the game 15 minutes from time. The defeat was Rapid's sixth consecutive loss in the competition. • The Austrian side opened the scoring in their Matchday 4 engagement away to Club Brugge thanks to Marek Kincl’s diving header after only 33 seconds at the Jan Breydelstadion. But the home side hit back to claim back­to­back wins through Javier Portillo (9), Boško Balaban (25) and veteran Gert Verheyen (63). Steffen Hoffmann’s 81st­minute header ensured a nervous finale, but the Belgian side held on. • Rapid scored two goals in the UEFA Champions League for the first time in 20 appearances in the competition against Club Brugge on Matchday 4. The two goals also doubled their all­time tally as well as providing their first goals outside of Vienna in the competition. Their other goals in the UEFA Champions League came in their other appearance in the group stage during the 1996/97 season when goals from Christian Stumpf and Andrzej Lesiak secured two 1­1 draws at home to Fenerbahçe SK and Juventus as Rapid amassed two points from their six engagements in the competition. • But on Matchday 5, Rapid slumped to a 4­0 defeat by Bayern in snowy conditions in Munich. Roy Makaay finally (72, 77) broke his UEFA Champions League duck this season with two second­half strikes in quick succession but Sebastian Deisler (21), who opened the scoring midway through the opening period, was Bayern's inspiration in the absence of the injured Michael Ballack and Mehmet Scholl. Stand­in playmaker Ali Karimi (54) was also on target. • Rapid have struggled to score goals at home recently in UEFA club competition, failing to find the target in four of their last six matches dating back to August 2004. This season, they scored in both qualifying rounds prior to entering the UEFA Champions League against F91 Dudelange (3­2) and FC Lokomotiv Moskva (1­1), but have subsequently failed to hit the back of the net in the group stage against Bayern and Club Brugge, losing both 1­0. • To date, Rapid have played 184 matches in UEFA club competition, but they are still waiting for their first victory in the UEFA Champions League having drawn two and lost nine of their engagements to date scoring four goals and conceding 24 times. • From the 184 matches to date, the Austrian side have won 73, drawn 34 and lost 77 times with 280 goals scored and 256 conceded. Team facts: Juventus • Juventus are involved in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League for the sixth successive time and for the tenth time in the last eleven years. The Turin giants failed to qualify for the 1999/00 competition and entered the 1999 UEFA Intertoto Cup before uefa.com 3/36 SK Rapid Wien v Juventus PRESS KIT qualifying for the 1999/00 UEFA Cup, which they exited at the fourth round stage. • Winners of the competition in 1995/96, the Turin club have been losing finalists on their three subsequent appearances against BV Borussia Dortmund (1996/97), Real Madrid CF (1997/98) and AC Milan (2002/03). • Both Bayern and Juventus hold the distinct record of being the only teams to compete in the European Champion Clubs' Cup final in each of the last four decades. Juventus's record is as follows: 2002/03: Juventus 0­0 AC Milan (2­3 on penalties after extra time) 1997/98: Juventus 0­1 Real Madrid CF 1996/97: BV Borussia Dortmund 3­1 Juventus 1995/96: AFC Ajax 1­1 Juventus (2­4 on penalties after extra time) 1984/85: Juventus 1­0 Liverpool FC 1982/83: Hamburger SV 1­0 Juventus 1972/73: AFC Ajax 1­0 Juventus • Juventus are seeking their first appearance in the European Champion Clubs' Cup final ­ and their eighth overall ­ since their penalty shoot­out defeat by AC Milan at the end of the 2002/03 season.