JAKARTA Borussia Dortmund will meet Chelsea in the first leg of the last 16 of the 2022/2023 European Champions League. This is the first meeting between the two teams in this competition.
The duel will take place at Dortmund headquarters, Signal Iduna Park, Thursday, February 16 in the morning WIB. Kick off the match starts at 03.00 WIB.
Dortmund advanced to the knockout stages after finishing second in Group G behind Manchester City. Meanwhile, the Blues managed to get past AC Milan, Red Bull Salzburg, and Dinamo Zagreb, to occupy the top spot in Group E.
The hosts have just extended their winning streak since the World Cup break to six games throughout the competition. Most recently they won 2-0 Werder Bremen in the German Bundesliga continued last weekend.
Currently Dortmund is in third place in the Bundesliga standings.
With that capital, Dortmund is certainly confident in welcoming the British giant. Moreover, they were recorded as only four defeats in their last 21 matches while playing at home for this competition.
However, three of the total defeats actually occurred when they faced a team from England. In fact, the team nicknamed Die Borussen always had difficulties when facing representatives from Prince Charles III.
Statistics even showed they failed to win one of their last 10 matches in European competitions when they met the England team. That number includes the eight defeats they suffered.
Their last win against the England team took place in March 2016 against Tottenham Hotspur in the European League. At that time, Chelsea striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored twice in a 2-1 win.
In addition to unsatisfactory records every time he met British representatives, Dortmund also went through the group stage by winning only two of their six matches.
However, at this time Chelsea, who will be their opponent, are also in a slump. The Blues have only won one of their eight games since the turn of the year.
The Blues also drew in their last three Premier League games, including a 1-1 draw at home to West Ham United on Saturday.
Chelsea's hopes of finishing in the top four of the Premier League final standings continue to fade. The reason is, they are currently in ninth place in the standings and 10 points behind Newcastle United who are in fourth place.
To that end, the West London club may have to fight hard in the European Champions League season if they want to return to competing in the most elite competition between European clubs next season.
The European Champions League champions for the 2011/2012 and 2020/2021 seasons experienced a difficult start in the group stage. They suffered a surprising 0-1 defeat against Dinamo Zagreb which ended Thomas Tuchel's coaching period.
Luckily they were able to bounce back under Potter and win four games remaining to top Group E ahead of second-placed AC Milan.
Since a 2-1 away win against Red Bull Salzburg on October 25, Chelsea have failed to win one of their last nine away games in all competitions.
Therefore, to secure a positive result against Dortmund is a tough challenge for the Blues. In addition, they also only won three of the last 11 away games against the German team.
The following is the prediction of the line-up of the two teams:
Borussia Dortmund (4-2-3-1): Kobel; Ryerson, airways, Schlotterbeck, Guerreiro; Bellingham, Can; Adeyemi, Reus, Brandt; Haller
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Arrizabalaga; James, Thiago Silva, Koulibaly, Chilwell; Loftus-Cheek, Fernandez; Mount, Felix, Mudryk; Havertz
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