The meeting with FC Rostov in Russia is the 100th match for PSV in the UEFA Champions League. If PSV scores twice, it will also score its hundredth Champions League goal. For FC Rostov it will be only their second encounter on the highest European stage, so the Russians also have everything to prove.
Passing not sharp
Russian clubs seem to be struggling in their first home game in the Champions League. Never before has a debutant team from Russia won its first home match. What also does not speak in the Russians' favor is that in their first match (5-0 loss against FC Bayern Munich) only 62.58% of Russian passes arrived at a fellow player. That is the lowest percentage in the entire Champions League.
Zinchenko
PSV's new acquisition Oleksandr Zinchenko played with his FC Ufa against FC Rostov last year. In the home game he scored, but Ufa lost 2-1. In the away game, Zinchenko gave an assist that earned a point: 1-1.
Oleksandr Zinchenko scored against Rostov last year
Penalty kicks
PSV will be keen to make the most of any penalty against FC Rostov. The last PSV player to score in normal playing time from a penalty in the Champions League was a while ago: Ruud van Nistelrooy exploited a penalty against Rangers in 1999. Since then, PSV missed three times from 11 meters.
Fourth time zero?
It is far from certain that PSV will find the net against Rostov. In the 10 previous matches of premier league clubs in Russia, the Russians kept the zero eight times. If that happens, it will be the fourth consecutive time PSV fails to score in a Champions League match. That happened only once before: in 2001-2002. PSV's last goal was Davy Pröpper's against CSKA Moscow. Because of that goal, PSV survived the group stage last year.
Will PSV get rid of the zero in this stadium?