Champions League: Dortmund face tough task against Barcelona
Needing to serve Barcelona a taste of their own remontada medicine to stay alive in the Champions League, Borussia Dortmund host the Catalan giants in night’s quarter-final second leg at Signal Iduna Park.
The Bundesliga outfit were slaughtered 4-0 by Hansi Flick’s side in the opening encounter last week, as La Blaugrana put one foot firmly in a semi-final showdown with either Inter Milan or Bayern Munich.
The Lionel Messi-Neymar-Luis Suarez front three at Barcelona may forever be remembered as one of the most fearsome attacking trios in history, but Raphinha, Lamine Yamal and Robert Lewandowski sure are giving the terrifying trio a brilliant run for their money in that regard.
All three of Flick’s prolific attackers were on song in last week’s first leg, where Lewandowski struck twice against his old team either side of strikes from Raphinha and Yamal, the former of whom matched Messi’s club record for the most goal involvements in a single Champions League season 19.
As Barcelona fans celebrated, the Dortmund faithful likely mourned their dreams of going one better in this season’s Champions League than they did in 2023-24, as on the previous 159 occasions where a team has lost the first leg of a UCL knockout game by four goals or more, that team has been dumped out 158 times.
Only Barcelona themselves against Paris Saint-Germain in 2017 have ever completed such an astounding comeback, and Dortmund’s chronic inconsistency throughout a troubled 2024-25 campaign makes it nigh on impossible to envisage Niko Kovac’s side repeating the Catalans’ trick on Tuesday.
BVB at least left with their pride in tact from Saturday’s Bundesliga Klassiker against Bayern Munich, holding the league leaders to a praiseworthy 2-2 draw at the Allianz Arena, but they can only boast a measly three victories from their last 12 matches at the Signal Iduna Park, where the walls have come crumbling down.
That miserable home sequence for Borussia Dortmund actually includes a 3-2 beating at the hands of Barcelona in the league phase, a result that has contributed to La Blaugrana’s six-game unbeaten run against the German giants in European competition.
Only against Rangers seven from 1996 to 1999 have Dortmund endured a longer streak without victory on the continent, but from miserable streaks to momentous ones, Barcelona are currently enjoying their longest-ever unbeaten run at the start of a calendar year.
To further whet Barcelona fans’ appetite, their side are searching for an outstanding ninth away win in a row at the Signal Iduna Park, and Flick’s men have avoided defeat in each of their last 16 road games, last going down to Real Sociedad on November 10.
With two wins over Dortmund and a 4-1 thrashing of Bayern to their name this season, Barca have won each of their last three UCL games against German teams after losing their previous five before that, signalling a shift in the balance of power as Flick’s side aim to live up to their favourites tag.
Borussia Dortmund had to make do without Pascal Gross in the first leg due to suspension, but the former Brighton & Hove Albion man is fine to take his place in the engine room today, just as he did in Der Klassiker.
Kovac has trialled a three-man defence in recent weeks, but as his side need a glut of goals to stand any chance of progression, a tried-and-tested 4-2-3-1 may be the way to go today as Niklas Sule drops out.-SportsMole
