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Big Match Feature: BVB v Spurs

football05 March 2019 04:01
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Borussia Dortmund have it all to do as they welcome Tottenham to Germany facing a three-goal deficit in the second leg of their round of 16 tie.

The English club took a stranglehold on the tie at Wembley on 13 February, second-half goals from Heung-Min Son, Jan Vertonghen and substitute Fernando Llorente inflicting Dortmund's joint biggest Uefa Champions League defeat and leaving Spurs on the verge of only what would be only a second quarterfinal appearance.

Previous Meetings

All four of the sides' past contests have come in the past three years.

In the 2015/16 Uefa Europa League round of 16, Dortmund were 3-0 winners in the home first leg – Marco Reus scoring twice – before a 2-1 success at White Hart Lane despite Son's goal for the home side.

Tottenham turned the tables in last season's Uefa Champions League group stage, winning 3-1 at Wembley – Son opening the scoring with Harry Kane adding two more – and 2-1 in Germany, the same two Spurs players again on the scoresheet.

While Tottenham finished first in their section ahead of holders – and eventual champions – Real Madrid, Dortmund had to settle for third place.

Form Guide

Dortmund

The most recent of Dortmund's four Uefa Champions League round of 16 ties came in 2016/17, when they lost the first leg 1-0 at Benfica but went through with a 4-0 home success. That gave the Bundesliga club a record of W3 L1 at this stage of the competition.

Dortmund are in the round of 16 for the fifth time in seven seasons.

The German club have won only one of their last seven knockout phase matches in Uefa competition (D2 L4), 3-2 against Atalanta in last season's Uefa Europa League round of 32 first leg.

Dortmund's record in two-legged knockout ties against English clubs is W3 L2; they lost the most recent, against Liverpool in the 2015/16 Uefa Europa League quarterfinals (1-1 home, 3-4 away).

Dortmund's record at home to English clubs is W6 D4 L2; the two defeats came against Tottenham last season and north London neighbours Arsenal, who were 1-0 winners in the 2013/14 group stage.

In this season's group stage, Lucien Favre's side kept three clean sheets at home in beating Monaco 3-0 and Atlético Madrid 4-0 before drawing 0-0 with Club Brugge. Dortmund conceded the fewest goals in the group stage (two) and kept the most clean sheets (five).

The 3-2 home win against Atalanta in the Uefa Europa League round of 32 first leg was Dortmund's only European victory in ten games last season; they have now won three of their last nine European home matches (D2 L4).

Before this season, Dortmund had won only one of their last 11 Uefa Champions League fixtures (D3 L7).

This is Dortmund's seventh Uefa Champions League campaign in eight years, and 13th overall; they were winners in 1997, and runners-up in 2013.

Dortmund have won eight of the 16 Uefa competition ties in which they lost the first leg away from home, most recently against Benfica in the 201617 Uefa Champions League round of 16 (0-1, 4-0). The biggest margin they have overturned is a 2-0 setback, which they have managed once in three attempts, defeating Rangers on penalties in the 1999/2000 Uefa Cup third round; their sole 3-0 first-leg away reverse came against Real Madrid in the 2013/14 Uefa Champions League quarterfinals (2-0 home).

• Dortmund's record in Uefa penalty shoot-outs is W2 L2:

6-5 v Auxerre, 1992/93 Uefa Cup semifinal

3-1 v Rangers, 1999/2000 Uefa Cup third round

2-4 v Club Brugge, 2003/04 Uefa Champions League third qualifying round

3-4 v Udinese, 2008/09 Uefa Cup first round

Tottenham

This is only Spurs' third Uefa Champions League round of 16 tie, with their record standing at W1 L1. In 2010/11 they won 1-0 away to AC Milan and on aggregate; 12 months ago they drew 2-2 at Juventus in the first leg but bowed out after a 2-1 home defeat.

Tottenham are therefore unbeaten in away matches in the Uefa Champions League round of 16 (W1 D1).

Tottenham's most successful Uefa Champions League campaign came in 2010/11, when they reached the quarterfinals. This is their fourth campaign overall, and their third in a row.

Tottenham's record in Germany is W4 D2 L6; that 2016 defeat at Dortmund is their sole loss in the last five visits (W2 D2).

Their heaviest European defeat came in Germany – an 8-0 loss at Köln in the 1995 Uefa Intertoto Cup.

Spurs' record in two-legged knockout ties against German clubs is W4 L3, although they have lost the last two.

This season, Mauricio Pochettino's side picked up only two points on their travels in Group B, losing 2-1 at Inter before draws at PSV Eindhoven (2-2) and Barcelona (1-1). The latter result, on matchday six, helped them overtake Inter to snatch second place behind Barça; Spurs had one point after three matches.

The Lilywhites have won just four of their last 18 European away matches (D7 L7).

Tottenham have won 16 of the 18 ties in Uefa competition in which they won the home first leg, most recently against Internazionale in the 2012/13 Uefa Europa League round of 16 (3-0 home, 1-4aet away). That is one of three ties in which Spurs won 3-0 at home in the first match; they also won all three on aggregate.

Spurs' last aggregate defeat when winning in the home first leg came in Germany, however, against Kaiserslautern in the 1999/2000 Uefa Cup second round (1-0 home, 0-2 away).

• Tottenham's record in three Uefa penalty shoot-outs is W1 L2:

1-4 v Basle, 2012/13 Uefa Europa League quarterfinal

5-6 v PSV Eindhoven, 2007/08 Uefa Cup round of 16

4-3 v Anderlecht, 1983/84 Uefa Cup final

Links and Trivia

This is one of only two ties in the round of 16 not featuring a reigning domestic champion, the other being Ajax-Real Madrid.

• Has played in Germany:

Heung-Min Son (Hamburg 2010–13, Bayer Leverkusen 2013–15)

Son scored five times in his five matches against Dortmund with Hamburg and Leverkusen.

• Have played together:

Ömer Toprak & Heung-Min Son (Bayer Leverkusen 2013–15)

• International teammates:

Jadon Sancho & Eric Dier, Danny Rose, Kieran Trippier, Dele Alli, Harry Winks, Harry Kane (England)

Axel Witsel & Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen (Belgium)

Reus and Mario Götze each scored in Dortmund's 4-1 victory away to an Ajax side featuring Alderweireld and Christian Eriksen in the 2012/13 group stage.

Kane and Dier found the net in England's 3-2 friendly win against Germany in March 2016; Götze and Reus played for Germany.

These clubs have two former players in common: midfielder Steffen Freund went to White Hart Lane from Dortmund in 1998; defender Young-Pyo Lee left Spurs for Dortmund in 2008.

Latest News

Dortmund

• Uefa Champions League squad changes

In: Leonardo Balerdi, Herbert Bockhorn

Out: Jeremy Toljan, Shinji Kagawa

Ömer Toprak's next appearance in Uefa club competition will be his 50th.

BVB have won one of their last six competitive games, a 3-2 home success against Bayer Leverkusen on 24 February. They suffered only their second Bundesliga defeat of the season on Friday night, going down 2-1 at Augsburg.

Dortmund are unbeaten at home this season in all competitions in regular time. Their sole defeat is a 4-2 penalties loss to Werder Bremen after a 3-3 draw in the last 16 of the German Cup on 5 February.

Lucien Favre's team have scored at least twice in all 12 Bundesliga home games. In 17 competitive home games this season they have only failed to score once, in the goalless draw against Club Brugge in the group stage.

Against Leverkusen Jadon Sancho scored his ninth Bundesliga goal, aged 18 years 336 days – the youngest player ever to reach that total. 7

Mario Götze, who also was on target against Leverkusen, has four Bundesliga goals this season, already one more than in the last two years combined.

Manuel Akanji (hip), who had been out since 18 December, when BVB suffered their first Bundesliga defeat this season, 2-1 at Fortuna Düsseldorf, returned against Leverkusen.

Marco Reus had scored in four successive appearances before being substituted at halftime against Bremen with a thigh injury; he made his comeback at Augsburg on Friday.

Christian Pulišic, who suffered a thigh injury in the first leg at Tottenham, is back in team training.

Lukasz Piszczek (foot) has been out since 9 February.

Paco Alcácer scored his first goal of 2019 at Augsburg, his 13th in this season's Bundesliga and his 11th as a substitute. The Spaniard's previous league goal, at Fortuna Düsseldorf, surpassed the old record for the most goals by a replacement in a whole Bundesliga season which had been held jointly by Nils Petersen (Freiburg, 2016/17) and Viorel Ganea (Stuttgart, 2002/03).

Eighteen different players have scored for Dortmund in this season's Bundesliga, Dan-Axel Zagadou becoming the latest when he found the net against Leverkusen.

Sancho was the youngest player to score in this season's group stage. He was aged 18 years 213 days when he found the net against Atlético Madrid on matchday three.

Tottenham

• Uefa Champions League squad changes

In: Juan Foyth

Out: Mousa Dembélé

The first leg was Spurs' fourth successive win in all competitions; they have not won since, losing 1-2 at Burnley on 23 February and 0-2 at Chelsea four days later before Saturday's 1-1 draw at home to Arsenal.

That was Spurs' first Premier League draw of the season, and only their fourth in all competitions in 2018/19 in their 43rd fixture (W27 L12).

Spurs have lost their last four away matches in all competitions – having won the previous five – conceding two goals in each of them.

Mauricio Pochettino's side have kept only two clean sheets in their last 11 fixtures.

Heung-Min Son has scored 11 goals in his last 15 Spurs matches, but none in the last three having found the net in each of the previous four.

Harry Kane, who scored four times in the group stage, was out between 13 January and 23 February after damaging ankle ligaments in the 1-0 home defeat by Manchester United; he returned with a goal against Burnley and also converted a penalty against Arsenal at the weekend.

Dele Alli has been out since 20 January with a hamstring injury.

Ben Davies returned from a groin injury to play 90 minutes at Chelsea, his first appearance since 24 January.

Jan Vertonghen missed the defeat at Chelsea with a hip problem but returned to face Arsenal, a game Harry Winks missed with a similar injury.

Eric Dier has not played since 2 February due to tonsillitis.

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