Borussia Dortmund could also be counting on continued progress within the Champions League to maintain their season alive, however they head to France for the return leg of their last-16 tie towards Lille with work to do after a 1-1 draw final week. Karim Adeyemi’s first-half aim had given Dortmund the lead at dwelling within the first leg, just for Hakon Haraldsson to fireside within the equaliser which maybe offers Lille the sting because the groups meet once more on the Stade Pierre-Mauroy.
Dortmund are enduring a poor home marketing campaign and a 1-0 dwelling defeat towards Augsburg on the weekend left them languishing in tenth place within the Bundesliga, seven factors adrift of the highest 4 and 4 factors away from any European qualifying spot for subsequent season.
There had been encouraging indicators after Niko Kovac was appointed on the finish of January to exchange the sacked Nuri Sahin, with the brand new coach main Dortmund previous Portuguese champions Sporting within the play-off spherical.
But they’ve misplaced three of their final 5 matches within the Bundesliga, and the Augsburg setback was hardly superb preparation for the go to to northern France.
Lille have already overwhelmed Real Madrid at dwelling and put six objectives previous Feyenoord there as they exceeded expectations within the league section.
The Ligue 1 facet at the moment are dreaming of reaching the quarter-finals of Europe’s elite membership competitors for the primary time.
Finding positives
For Dortmund, in the meantime, an exit at this stage could be an enormous backwards step after final 12 months’s run to the ultimate, which they misplaced to Madrid at Wembley.
“I do not need to paint a bleak image due to this match,” Kovac stated instantly following the loss to Augsburg.
“We performed nicely within the earlier two Bundesliga video games and within the first half towards Lille, so that provides me hope.
“A coach must attempt to discover positives, even in defeat,” added Kovac, who returns to France for the primary time since being sacked by Monaco in early 2022.
Dortmund, who beat PSG 1-0 within the semi-finals on their final go to to France final season, are with out Swedish full-back Daniel Svensson after he got here off injured late within the first leg.
They will look to Serhou Guirassy so as to add to the ten objectives he has scored on this season’s Champions League, because the striker as soon as once more comes up towards the membership he represented within the 2015/16 marketing campaign.
“I really feel like we’ve the benefit now,” Lille’s Icelandic worldwide Haraldsson stated after the primary leg.
Lille have misplaced simply twice in 20 video games in entrance of their very own followers this season, though that doesn’t embody a French Cup loss on penalties to second-tier Dunkerque.
This tie may additionally go all the best way to penalties if there is no such thing as a winner on the finish of 90 minutes or additional time — Lille have been additionally knocked out of the Europa Conference League on penalties final season by Aston Villa within the quarter-finals.
Lille’s earlier two appearances at this stage of the Champions League led to elimination, towards Manchester United in 2007 and Chelsea in 2022.
Whoever emerges victorious on Wednesday will advance to a quarter-final towards both Barcelona or Benfica.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
