Sparta Praha vs Red Bull Salzburg

Sparta Prague earned their first UEFA Champions League win since December 2003 (1-0 v Lazio), ending a 14-game winless run in the competition (D4 L10). It’s also the first time they’ve won their opening match of a UEFA Champions League campaign, with this the eighth edition they’ve featured in.

RB Salzburg were beaten in their opening game of a UEFA Champions League campaign for the first time, having not lost any of their previous six such games (W2 D4). The Austrian side have now conceded 3+ goals in consecutive games in the competition for the first time since November 2020 (a run of three).

Sparta Prague scored more goals in this game (3) than they managed in the entirety of their previous two UEFA Champions League campaigns – 2 in both 2005-06 and 2004-05 (six group stage games in each).

Sparta Prague and RB Salzburg’s only previous meetings came in UEFA Champions League qualifying in 1997-98, with the side from Czechia winning 3-0 on aggregate and going on to reach the group stage (0-0 away and 3-0 at home).

This will be the first European Cup/UEFA Champions League game between a team from Czechia (including Czechoslovakia) and one from Austria since the 1983-84 campaign, with SK Rapid winning on away goals against Bohemians 1905 in a Last 16 tie (2-2 on aggregate).

RB Salzburg have qualified for the UEFA Champions League in each of the last six seasons, with Shakhtar Donetsk the only other team from outside of Europe’s big five leagues to do so.

This will be Sparta Prague’s first game in the UEFA Champions League since December 2005, in a 0-0 draw against Thun. They finished bottom of Group B in that 2005-06 campaign, drawing two and losing four of their six group stage matches.

Sparta Prague are without a win in any of their last 14 UEFA Champions League games (D4 L10), since a 1-0 win against Lazio in December 2003; only FCSB (23), Genk (18) and Maribor (17) are on a longer current winless run in the competition, none of whom will compete in the 2024-25 edition.