Wolfsburg
UEFA milestones
• None
UEFA Champions League statistics
• The German titleholders have committed 50 fouls, fewer than any other side, and picked up only three yellow cards, the joint lowest total in the competition along with Liverpool FC.
• Grafite is available again after a two-game ban following his red card on Matchday 3.
Latest domestic information
• Saturday 5 December 2009: VfL Wolfsburg 2-2 SC Freiburg (Bastians 27og, Johnson 81; Idrissou 19, Banović 51pen)
Benaglio; Riether, Ricardo Costa, Barzagli, Schäfer (Johnson 60); Josué (Dejagah 78), Hasebe (Ziani 55), Gentner, Misimović; Džeko, Grafite.
• Armin Veh made two changes to the side that drew 2-2 with Werder Bremen on 28 November. Captain Josué returned to the starting lineup after a ban and replaced Karim Ziani, while Marcel Schäfer came in for Fabian Johnson.
• Edin Džeko scored twice against Werder and has now struck 40 Bundesliga goals in 75 appearances, a total that includes seven doubles and two hat-tricks.
• All but seven of Wolfsburg's 29 Bundesliga goals this season have been scored after half-time, with nine coming in the last 15 minutes.
• Wolfsburg have won just four of their last 14 matches in all competitions, losing four.
• Wolfsburg's seven-game unbeaten league run, dating back to a 3-2 home defeat by Bayer 04 Leverkusen on 12 September, was ended with another loss by the same scoreline at home to 1. FC Nürnberg on 21 November.
• The 3-3 draw with 1. FSV Mainz on 31 October was Wolfsburg's first in the league at home since 30 August 2008.
Injury news
• Jonathan Santana – out since 13 November (thigh)
• Obafemi Martins – out since 25 November (left shinbone)
• Alexander Madlung – out since 28 November (calf)
• Martins underwent surgery on his shin in Hamburg on 2 December. The striker had been playing despite a bone inflammation in his left leg and was originally scheduled for an operation during the Bundesliga winter break.
Miscellaneous
• During the Matchday 5 defeat at PFC CSKA Moskva, Zvjezdan Misimović's second child – a boy called Niko – was born.
Manchester United
UEFA milestones
• The 2008/09 final defeat by FC Barcelona brought an end to United's 25-match unbeaten run – the longest in the competition's history. They had last tasted defeat at AC Milan on 2 May 2007. AFC Ajax and FC Bayern München shared the previous record of 19 matches unbeaten.
• United's 23-match unbeaten home run in the UEFA Champions League was ended by Beşiktaş JK on Matchday 5. They had not lost at Old Trafford since a 1-0 reverse against Milan on 23 February 2005.
• United have scored 397 goals in the European Champion Clubs' Cup, while Rodrigo Tello's winner for Beşiktaş was the 200th they had conceded in the competition.
• They have also conceded 147 goals in the UEFA Champions League, group stage to final.
UEFA Champions League statistics
• United's players have been caught offside 30 times, more than any other side.
• Nemanja Vidić's next booking will incur a suspension.
Latest domestic information
• Saturday 5 December: West Ham United FC 0-4 Manchester United FC (Scholes 45+1, Gibson 61, Valencia 70, Rooney 72)
Kuszczak; Fletcher, Neville (Carrick 34), Brown, Evra; Valencia, Anderson, Scholes, Gibson (Berbatov 67); Giggs, Rooney (Owen 73).
• United's third successive league victory took them within two points of leaders Chelsea FC as Sir Alex Ferguson's side scored four goals in an away game for the second week in succession.
• United have won 13 Premier League away games in 2009, more than any other side.
• Of United's 34 league goals this season, 25 have come in the second half and ten in the last 15 minutes.
• Three days after losing to Beşiktaş, United recorded a second successive league win, ending a run of two straight away defeats with a 4-1 victory at Portsmouth FC on 28 November. Wayne Rooney grabbed a hat-trick while Ryan Giggs chimed in with his 100th Premier League goal.
• Rooney's treble was his third for United and his first since a hat-trick against Bolton Wanderers FC on 28 October 2006. His other three-goal haul came against Fenerbahçe SK on 28 September 2004, his United and UEFA Champions League debut.
• Giggs has registered in the top flight in each of his 20 campaigns with United and is the only player to find the net in all 18 seasons of the Premier League era.
• United overcame Tottenham Hotspur FC 2-0 in the League Cup quarter-finals on 1 December, a repeat of last year's final which Sir Alex's team won on penalties after a goalless 120 minutes. Two long-range strikes from Darron Gibson settled the contest, the first time the midfielder has scored more than once in a game.
• The holders will face neighbours Manchester City FC in the League Cup semi-finals on 6 and 19 January, with the second leg to be contested at Old Trafford.
• United will play non-league Kettering Town FC or third-tier Leeds United AFC at Old Trafford in the FA Cup third round on 2/3 January.
Injury news
• Daniel Welbeck – out 27 October to 25 November (knee)
• Dimitar Berbatov – out 18 November to 1 December (knee)
• Owen Hargreaves – out since 21 September 2008 (knee)
• Rio Ferdinand – out since 25 October (calf)
• Fabio – out since 3 November (groin)
• Jonny Evans – out since 14 November (calf)
• John O'Shea – out since 18 November (ankle)
• Edwin van der Sar – out since 21 November (knee)
• Nemanja Vidić – out since 5 December (flu)
• Gary Neville was forced off during the first half at West Ham with a groin injury, while Wes Brown also limped off late on and Rafael missed the game altogether.
Miscellaneous
• Rooney and former United player Cristiano Ronaldo have been shortlisted for the FIFA World Player of the Year award. The winner will be announced in Zurich on 21 December.
• On 1 December, Rooney finished eighth in the 2009 Ballon d'Or vote, won by Barcelona's Lionel Messi with 473 points out of a possible 480. Erstwhile United winger Ronaldo came second.
• The following day, Federico Macheda signed a new four-year contract, tying him to the English champions until 2014.
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