Pafos vs Bayern München

Bayern Munich have now won 10 of the last 11 times that they have faced a new opponent in the UEFA Champions League for the very first time, the exception coming with a 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa last season.

Bayern Munich were 4-0 up within 35 minutes against Pafos, only the third occasion of a side scoring four times in the first 35 minutes of a UEFA Champions League away game – with the German side responsible for all three (also 30th min v Roma in Oct 2014 and 35th min v Viktoria Plzen in Oct 2022).

This was Pafos’ heaviest ever defeat in any match in European competition, and joint-heaviest defeat by any side in their first ever home UEFA Champions League game, level with Ferencvárosi TC in September 1995 (1-5 v Ajax).

This will be the 50th game between Cypriot and German teams in major European competition, while only on one previous occasion has a Cypriot side won (D8 L40): APOEL Nicosia 2-1 Berliner FC Dynamo in the European Cup first round in October 1980.

Bayern Munich have won all six of their previous game against Cypriot sides in European competition, scoring 31 goals and only conceding twice across the six matches. The most recent of those, however, came back in October 1990 in a 4-0 win over APOEL Nicosia in the European Cup.

Bayern Munich have won 14 of their last 15 games when facing a side in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League for the first time (D1), with BATE Borisov in October 2012 the last team to beat Bayern in their first meeting (3-1).

Bayern Munich lost three of their four away games in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League last season (W1), losing against Aston Villa, Barcelona and Feyenoord. Prior to last term, they had gone 20 consecutive away matches without suffering a defeat in the group/league phase of the competition (W18 D2).

Pafos earned a 0-0 draw at Olympiakos on MD1, despite playing over an hour of the match with 10 men (Bruno Felipe sent off in 25th minute). The Cypriot averaged just 27% possession from the 26th minute onwards, but conceded just three attempts on target in that time (from 18 total shots faced during the whole game).