Borussia Dortmund Vs. Lille: Die Borussen Must Pass Les Dogues

Borussia Dortmund players must appear confident at home (photo: x @BlackYellow)

JAKARTA - In the race for tickets to face Barcelona in the Champions League quarter-finals, Borussia Dortmund will host Lille in the first leg of the last 16 at Signal Iduna Park, Tuesday night, March 5 or Wednesday morning WIB.

Last season's Champions League finalists managed to get past Sporting Lisbon in the playoffs to get a chance to face Les Dogues, who made it into the top eight in the league phase of this competition.

Borussia Dortmund confirmed their place in the last 16 after a convincing 3-0 win over Sporting Lisbon in the first leg of the playoffs. With these results, they only need to avoid a big loss in the second leg, which ended in a 0-0 draw, to advance to the next round.

The Champions League has been a bad coverage for Dortmund amid their difficulties in the Bundesliga this season. However, with Niko Kovac now in coaching chair, Dortmund starting to show improved performance. They destroyed Union Berlin 6-0 on February 22, then beat St Pauli 2-0 last Saturday.

Serhou Guirassy, who leads the Champions League goalscorer list with 10 goals, opened the scoring before Karim Adeyemi confirmed victory. Despite showing a small revival, Dortmund is still on the centerboard of the Bundesliga and is far behind the teams above it. Therefore, advancing further in the Champions League could be their best way to qualify for the 2025-26 edition.

On the other hand, Lille wants to take advantage of Dortmund's weaknesses which have won only two of the last nine matches at Signal Iduna Park. This French club has ambitions to make history by qualifying for the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time.

Lille has impressed in the league phase this season, ranking seventh after beating two Madrid giant clubs and destroying Feyenoord 6-1. The effectiveness of their attack is key to success, with the best chance conversion rate among the whole team (22.7%).

However, Lille suffered a crushing blow last Saturday after being slaughtered by Paris Saint-Germain 4-1 in Ligue 1. Even so, Jonathan David's late goal ensured Les Dogues still scored in 11 games in a row before facing Dortmund.

This duel will be the first meeting between the two teams in more than 22 years, having met for the last time in the last 16 of the 2001-02 UEFA Cup. At that time, Dortmund qualified with away goals after a 1-1 aggregate draw.

Dortmund did not have much injury problems ahead of this match. Felix Nmecha (knee injury) and Filippo Mane ( Muscle injury) are confirmed to be absent, while Julian Ryerson is still doubtful after missing the match against St Pauli due to illness.

Yan Couto appeared solid as a right-back at the weekend, so Kovac may not be in a hurry to play Ryerson. Julian Brandt also has the opportunity to set a club record, after collecting five assists in the Champions League this season. Another assist will match Ousmane Dembele's 2016-17 record.

Meanwhile, Lille relied on Jonathan David, who only needed one more goal to become the club's top scorer in European competition. The Canadian striker is likely to return to the starting XI replacing Chuba Akpom.

Lille also lost several key players, including Tiago Santos (ACL injury), Samuel Umtiti (chip injury), and Edon Zhegrova (bragage injury). In addition, Nabil Bentaleb is not available because he is not eligible.

Borussia Dortmund (4-2-3-1):Cobel; Couto, Can, Schlotterbeck, Bensebaini; Sabitzer, Gross; Adeyemi, Brandt, Gittens; Guirassy

Lille (4-2-3-1):Chevalier; Meunier, Diakite, Alexandro, Gudmundsson; Andre, Bouaddi; Waldsson, Angel Gomes, Bakker; Davi