Fighting for the right to potentially meet Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-finals, Borussia Dortmund and Lille square off in the first leg of their last-16 battle at the Signal Iduna Park on Tuesday night.
Last season’s beaten finalists progressed past Sporting Lisbon in the knockout round playoffs to earn a date with Les Dogues, who sneaked into the top eight of the league-phase table.
Match preview
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The damage was well and truly done in the first leg of Sporting and Borussia Dortmund’s Champions League playoff tie, as a dominant 3-0 win for the German giants meant that the 2023-24 runners-up simply needed to avoid a home implosion to seal safe passage into the last 16.
A dull 0-0 draw in the return fixture suited BVB down to the ground as they made the last 16 for the sixth time in their last seven appearances in the Champions League, which has often provided a safe haven this season amid their prolonged Bundesliga struggles.
However, with Niko Kovac now at the wheel, Dortmund are finally looking more like their usual selves again in the German top flight, following up a 6-0 slaughter of Union Berlin on February 22 with a comfortable 2-0 success at home to St Pauli on Saturday.
The ever-clinical Serhou Guirassy – leading the way in the Champions League scoring charts with 10 goals – broke the deadlock before Karim Adeyemi put the icing on the cake, as Dortmund finally won back-to-back Bundesliga games for the first time this season.
Despite their mini-revival, Kovac’s men are still entrenched in mid-table and have plenty of ground to make up on the teams above them, so going one better than they did in last year’s Champions League could still prove to be their best path to the 2025-26 tournament.
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Hoping to prolong the home woes of a Dortmund side who have only won two of their last nine competitive contests at the Signal Iduna Park, Lille have their sights set on club history over these two legs, having never progressed further than the last-16 stage of the Champions League.
From progressing through qualifying to placing seventh in the 36-team league phase, the 2020-21 Ligue 1 champions have enjoyed quite the adventure in this year’s edition of the competition, notably taking down both Madrid giants and dismantling Feyenoord 6-1 in the league phase.
An unparalleled ruthlessness in the final third was to thank for Lille’s direct advancement to the last eight, as Bruno Genesio‘s men converted 22.7% of their chances in the league phase – the best rate of all teams – but they were taught an attacking lesson on Saturday night.
Indeed, Lille were comprehensively conquered 4-1 by Paris Saint-Germain in the French top flight, although Jonathan David‘s late consolation at least extended Les Dogues’ scoring streak to 11 matches in all competitions before a long-awaited Signal Iduna Park reunion.
When Dortmund and Lille collide on Tuesday night, it will mark the first match between the two UCL hopefuls in over 22 years, having only met before in the 2001-02 UEFA Cup last 16; the German outfit advanced on away goals following a 1-1 aggregate draw over two legs.
Team News
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Dortmund’s squad is in relatively good nick for the first leg, but Felix Nmecha (knee) and Filippo Mane (muscle) are out of contention, while right-back Julian Ryerson is also touch-and-go after missing the win over St Pauli due to illness.
Yan Couto held his own in the right-back slot over the weekend, though, so Kovac may not see the need to rush Ryerson back for the first leg, where Julian Brandt will have his eyes on a club record.
The German playmaker has already set up five goals in the 2024-25 Champions League and needs just one more to match the all-time BVB best for a single season; Ousmane Dembele provided six assists in the 2016-17 edition.
Speaking of club history potentially being made on Tuesday night, Lille marksman David – who will be at the centre of a fascinating summer transfer battle this summer – needs just one more goal to become Les Dogues’ all-time leading scorer in major European competitions.
The Canada international and soon-to-be free agent was only a second-half substitute against PSG but should now come back into the first XI over Chuba Akpom, while either Andre Gomes or talented teenager Ayyoub Bouaddi will replace the ineligible Nabil Bentaleb.
Tiago Santos (ACL), Samuel Umtiti (calf) and Edon Zhegrova (groin) are all unavailable for this encounter.
Borussia Dortmund possible starting lineup:
Kobel; Couto, Can, Schlotterbeck, Bensebaini; Sabitzer, Gross; Adeyemi, Brandt, Gittens; Guirassy
Lille possible starting lineup:
Chevalier; Meunier, Diakite, Alexsandro, Gudmundsson; Andre, Bouaddi; Haraldsson, Angel Gomes, Bakker; David
We say: Borussia Dortmund 3-1 Lille
The battle for attacking supremacy between the equally red-hot David and Guirassy is sure to be a fascinating one, albeit one that the latter’s side should come up trumps in.
Kovac’s men are slowly but surely reverting to type, and while Lille are so often clinical in attack, their defence does not always inspire confidence, evidenced by just one clean sheet in their last 11.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
