This is just Chelsea’s third ever meeting with Cypriot opposition, winning 1-0 away and drawing 2-2 at home with APOEL Nicosia in the 2009-10 UEFA Champions League previously.
This is Pafos’ first ever meeting with English opposition. Cypriot sides have only won one of their 21 meetings with English teams in all competitions (D3 L17), with AEK Larnaca winning 1-0 at Crystal Palace in this season’s UEFA Conference League.
Chelsea are unbeaten in their last 14 home games in the UEFA Champions League group stage/league phase (W10 D4), winning the last five in a row including all three this season by an aggregate score of 9-1.
Pafos are yet to score away from home in the UEFA Champions League, with two 0-0 draws being followed by a 2-0 loss at Juventus last time out.
Of teams in the bottom 12 coming into this round of matches, only Benfica (8) have conceded fewer goals than Pafos (9). This despite the Cypriot side facing more shots than other side in the UEFA Champions League this season (123).
In terms of average age, this fixture will see the side with the youngest starting XI in the UEFA Champions League this season (24y 21d for Chelsea) face the team with the oldest (30y 96d for Pafos).
Pafos have only used 18 players in the UEFA Champions League this season; the joint-fewest of any side, along with Union Saint-Gilloise (18).
Cole Palmer has been involved in four goals in his last three appearances in major European competition for Chelsea (1 goal, 3 assists), though he’s not featured since netting against Bayern Munich on MD1 this season.
18-year-old Estêvão has scored in all three of his UEFA Champions League starts for Chelsea. The only teenager to score in each of his first four starts in the competition is Kylian Mbappé (2017), the only Brazilian to do so is Elpídio Silva (2001), while no Chelsea player has ever done so.
Pafos’ David Luiz won the UEFA Champions League with Chelsea in 2012. The Brazilian has scored in two of his last three appearances at Stamford Bridge in the competition, with PSG in March 2015 and for the Blues against Roma in October 2017.