Tottenham v Dortmund background
Monday, January 21, 2019
Article summary
Tottenham and Borussia Dortmund have become frequent opponents in recent seasons as they reconvene at Wembley.
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Tottenham Hotspur and Borussia Dortmund have got to know each other well over the last four seasons, with little between the sides as they prepare to meet for the fifth time.
• While Dortmund dominated the sides' first meeting, Tottenham held the upper hand when the clubs were reunited last season. The German club – in the round of 16 for the fifth time in seven seasons – come into this tie having finished first in Group A, while Tottenham claimed the runners-up spot in Group B thanks to a memorable 1-1 draw at Barcelona on matchday six.
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 Heung-Min 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
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 have never won a home match in the UEFA Champions League knockout rounds (D1 L2), scoring just one goal.
• Tottenham's most successful UEFA Champions League campaign came in 2010/11, when they reached the quarter-finals. This is their fourth campaign overall, and their third in a row.
• Tottenham were unbeaten at home to German clubs (W6 D1) before succumbing to Dortmund in 2016; they lost their next such match too, to Bayer Leverkusen in November 2016, before beating Dortmund last season.
• 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 lost 4-2 at home to Barcelona in their first home game, but beat PSV Eindhoven (2-1) and Internazionale (1-0) in the next two. That helped them overtake Inter to snatch second place behind Barça; Spurs had one point after three matches.
• The London club won three of their four home games in last season's UEFA Champions League. Before beating Dortmund on matchday one in 2017/18, they had won just one of their previous five European home fixtures.
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 German club a record of W3 L1 at this stage of the competition.
• The German club have won only one of their last six knockout phase matches in UEFA competition (D2 L3), 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 quarter-finals (1-1 home, 3-4 away).
• Dortmund have lost on three of their last four trips to England – the exception that 2016 success at Spurs – and seven of their 12 games away to English clubs overall (W4 D1).
• In this season's group stage, Lucien Favre's side won 1-0 at Club Brugge on matchday one – ending a run of six UEFA Champions League away matches without a victory (D2 L4) – and 2-0 at Monaco either side of a 2-0 defeat at Atlético Madrid, helping them to collect 13 points overall. Dortmund conceded the fewest goals in the group stage (two) and kept the most clean sheets (five).
• The victories at Club Brugge and Monaco are the only two Dortmund have managed in their last 11 European away matches (D4 L5).
• 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.
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:
Heung-Min Son & Ömer Toprak (Bayer Leverkusen 2013–15)
• International team-mates:
Eric Dier, Danny Rose, Kieran Trippier, Dele Alli, Harry Winks, Harry Kane & Jadon Sancho (England)
Toby Alderweireld, Jan Vertonghen & Axel Witsel (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
Tottenham
• UEFA Champions League squad changes
In: Juan Foyth
Out: Mousa Dembélé
• Spurs have drawn only three games this season in all competitions, most recently at Barcelona on matchday six; their record since is W11 L4.
• Mauricio Pochettino's side have lost two of their last six home matches, having won the previous six, although they made it three Wembley wins in a row on Sunday with a 3-1 defeat of Leicester.
• The 1-0 home win against Newcastle on 2 February is Tottenham's only clean sheet in seven games.
• Heung-Min Son has scored ten goals in his last 11 Spurs matches.
• Spurs lost to Chelsea in the English League Cup semi-finals on 24 January, going out on penalties after a 2-2 aggregate draw.
• Tottenham are also out of the FA Cup, losing 2-0 at Crystal Palace on 27 January in the last 32.
• Harry Kane, who scored four times in the group stage, has not played since damaging ankle ligaments in the 1-0 home defeat by Manchester United on 13 January.
• Dele Alli has been out since 20 January with a hamstring injury while Ben Davies (groin, out since 24 January) has also been sidelined.
• Eric Dier missed Sunday's win against Leicester through illness.
Dortmund
• UEFA Champions League squad changes
In: Leonardo Balerdi, Herbert Bockhorn
Out: Jeremy Toljan, Shinji Kagawa
• BVB's record since matchday six is W4 D3 L1. One of those draws, 3-3 at home to Werder Bremen in the last 16 of the German Cup on 5 February, preceded a 4-2 defeat on penalties.
• Dortmund also drew 3-3 on Saturday, conceding three times in the last 15 minutes to let slip a three-goal cushion at home to Hoffenheim.
• Against Hoffenheim, Jadon Sancho scored his eighth Bundesliga goal, the youngest player ever to reach that total aged 18 years 321 days.
• Mario Götze, who provided a goal and an assist on Saturday, has two goals and two assists in his last five league games. The strike against Hoffenheim was his 50th in the Bundesliga.
• Dortmund coach Lucien Favre missed the Hoffenheim match through illness, with assistants Manfred Stefes and Edin Terzic taking charge of the team.
• Marco Reus, who has scored in his last three competitive games for BVB, had to be substituted at half-time against Bremen with a thigh injury and has not featured since.
• As both first-choice goalkeepers Roman Bürki and Marwin Hitz were missing due to illness, Eric Oelschlägel made his professional debut against Bremen. Sancho, Marcel Schmelzer (both ill) and Łukasz Piszczek (foot) were also ruled out; Bürki, Sancho and Piszczek started against Hoffenheim with Schmelzer an unused substitute.
• Manuel Akanji (hip) has been out since 18 December, when BVB suffered their only Bundesliga defeat this season, 2-1 at Fortuna Düsseldorf.
• Leonardo Balerdi, who joined in January from Boca Juniors, has not played since 25 January because of a facial injury.
• Paco Alcácer, who is still without a goal in 2019, had set a new record at Fortuna Düsseldorf when he scored his tenth Bundesliga goal as a substitute, surpassing the old record for the most goals by a substitute in a whole Bundesliga season which had been held jointly by Nils Petersen (Freiburg, 2016/17) and Viorel Ganea (Stuttgart, 2002/03).
• Sixteen different players scored for Dortmund in the first 14 league games, a new Bundesliga record. Raphaël Guerreiro made it 17 when he found the net in a 5-1 win against Hannover 96 on 26 January.
• 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.
Video Assistant Referees (VAR) will be introduced into the UEFA Champions League from this round. The VAR will be used in order to support the referee when making decisions concerning four match-changing situations:
1. Goals
2. Incidents in the penalty area
3. Red cards
4. Mistaken identity
The VAR will inform the referee when there is evidence of a clear and obvious mistake in one of these match-changing situations. The referee can then use the review area next to the pitch to take a final decision. The VAR is also able to take into account any infringement that could have taken place in the immediate build-up to the incident (the attacking phase of play).
Decisions like offside or whether a foul was committed inside or outside the penalty area will be recommended to the referee directly by the VAR and no on-field review necessarily takes place in such cases. The on-field review process will be communicated within the stadium using either the stadium screens or the public announcement system.
More information on the introduction of VAR, including videos and images can be found here.