(Football news) A loss at the Westfalenstadion will leave Luis Enrique’s team’s chances of qualifying for the tournament in the air, even though the hosts just need a point to guarantee first place in the group.
On matchday five, Borussia Dortmund secured their spot in the knockout stages by securing their third consecutive continental victory. This after starting the Champions League ‘group of death’ this year with a depressing 2-0 loss to their upcoming opponents at the Parc des Princes.
Following two convincing wins over Newcastle United, Edin Terzic’s team tore down a few more walls of the San Siro stronghold with a 3-1 victory over AC Milan. Marco Reus started the goal rush, with Jamie Bynoe-Gittens and Karim Adeyemi also scoring.
With a strong record of 10 points out of a possible 15 in the group stage so far, Dortmund will be in the final-16 draw regardless of the outcome this week. However, a loss to Enrique’s team this week could see them drop to second place due to their three-point advantage over PSG.
Though December’s domestic struggles have not made for encouraging reading, recent Champions League achievements at the Westfalenstadion suggest that the Dortmund contingent can already start organising their first-place celebration. Dortmund has kept four clean sheets in each of their last four home games in the tournament, an all-time club record.
Since the beginning of the month, BVB has been held to a draw against title-chasing Bayer Leverkusen on the road, eliminated by Stuttgart from the DFB-Pokal, and defeated 3-2 at home against RB Leipzig in the Bundesliga match on Saturday. Mats Hummels’ red card in the 15th minute was the first step towards this disastrous outcome.
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