1. Round of 16 second leg in this year’s Champions League season: Chelsea welcome Borussia Dortmund. We will report live from 9 p.m. (see below) from this game!
Here is the LIVETICKER: Borussia Dortmund traveled to the Champions League hit at English top club Chelsea with a lot of tailwind and a good deal of self-confidence. In the round of 16 second leg in London, BVB defended a 1-0 lead from the first leg, the chances against the million-strong Blues are intact. “It’s going to be a tough fight. Everything is open, but we’re in a very positive mood,” said BVB captain Marco Reus. On Friday, the Dortmund team managed their tenth win in their tenth competitive game of the year against RB Leipzig (2-1). The triumph in the first duel with Chelsea three weeks ago strengthens the Germans’ belief in reaching the quarter-finals. Reus: “Chelsea will try everything. We’ll have to suffer.” “Today I’m satisfied with a draw for once. We don’t always have to win,” joked BVB sporting director Sebastian Kehl, referring to the impressive winning streak of the past few weeks. Like Reus, Kehl also expects a “brutal” game. “Chelsea will try everything. We will have to suffer.” Hans-Joachim Watzke sees it similarly: “No one should believe that 10th place in the Premier League reflects Chelsea’s sporting quality. The knot can burst at any time, they have spent more than 600 million euros on transfers in eight months,” said the BVB managing director of the “Ruhr Nachrichten”. It is unclear who will guard the goal of Edin Terzic’s team at Stamford Bridge . Regular goalie Gregor Kobel, who has been in excellent form lately, complained of muscle problems in his thighs a few minutes before the game against Leipzig on Friday and was out at short notice. On Monday, however, the Swiss was on a plane to England with the team. “We don’t know yet if he can play,” said Kehl. As against Leipzig, substitute keeper Alexander Meyer could step in. In addition to Kobel, striker Donyell Malen, who was injured recently, is also there. However, coach Edin Terzic still has to do without Karim Adeyemi after his muscle fiber tear. The ex-Salzburger had scored the 1-0 winner in the first leg three weeks ago against the English star ensemble after a turbo sprint across the field. Kehl still thinks there are good chances: “It would be great for Borussia Dortmund to be in a quarter-finals of the Champions League again and to set an exclamation mark in Europe,” he said. Chelsea never managed more than one goal in eleven competitive games in 2023 returned to winning ways at the weekend with a 1-0 win against relegation contenders Leeds United. However, the team coached by Graham Potter is not really getting going, since the turn of the year the “Blues” have never scored more than one goal per game in eleven competitive games. The top performers N’Golo Kante and Christian Pulisic could return to the squad for the 2021 Champions League winner.
