Football Previews
Borussia Dortmund will travel to Spain this Wednesday in the first leg of their Champions League tie with last year’s Europa League winners Sevilla who are looking to proceed to the semi-final of the Champions League for the second time in the post-2003 CL format.
Julen Lopetegui’s side finished second in their group behind Chelsea with four wins (D1, L1) to leave them with 13 points in the group stage. This draw would have been accepted with a sigh of relief at the Estadio Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán back in December as the visitors haven’t been in the best shape this season.
The hosts meanwhile have been in decent shape this season and are currently sitting in fourth place in the Spanish La Liga. They head into this tie on a nine-game-winning run in all competitions. In that period, Rojiblancos conceded just one goal and have kept eight clean sheets. They are yet to concede a goal in seven games since conceding a single goal against Alaves in January.
Borussia Dortmund meanwhile finished top of their fairly easy group with 13 points. They were tipped as dark horses in previous year’s Champions Leagues, but have faltered in recent times.
Since the draw in December, a lot has happened for Dortmund—Lucien Favre has been sacked to be replaced by Edin Terzic, while BVB are out of the title race in the Bundesliga. They head into this tie with just two wins from their last seven games in all competitions (D3, L3) and with a very poor defencive record to show.
The visitors have failed to keep a clean sheet in eight of their last games and have conceded 14 times in that period. They will have a difficult time stopping their Spanish hosts who have been tight at the back and decent in front of goal with 16 goals scored in their last eight games.
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