Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid renew their European rivalry as they lock-horns at the Signal Iduna Park on Tuesday in the UEFA Champions League Group F encounter.
A modern-day classic will enter a new chapter when Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid kick-things off at the Westfalenstadion on Tuesday in their Group F Champions League encounter. Both sides have had rather strong starts to their respective domestic campaigns. Thomas Tuchel’s men have well and truly settled themselves into the thick of Bundesliga action taking 4 wins out of 5 after the early loss to newly promoted RB Leipzig.
Meanwhile, Real Madrid sit top of the La Liga with four wins and two draws out of the 6 league games played so far. After 6 consecutive wins in all competitions, Los Blancos failed to come away with a result in the last couple of games, failing to capitalize on slip-ups at their bitter Clasico rivals Barcelona. Zidane’s side have had a couple of unimpressive outings against Las Palmas and Villarreal and will be faced with the huge task of keeping a high-intensity Dortmund side at bay.
Both the teams came away with wins in their first Champions League encounters, with Dortmund comfortably dispatching Legia Warsaw 6-0 while Real Madrid made heavy weather of their narrow 2-1 win over Sporting Portugal. Therefore, the result from Tuesday night’s game could go some way into deciding who will take the top spot in Group F.
Tactics And Team News
Borussia Dortmund
Barring a set-back at the hands of RB Leipzig, Borussia Dortmund have been typically ruthless in their start to the season, especially in the last three games where they have scored a staggering 20 goals. The departures of stars like Mats Hummels and Henrikh Mkhitaryan did little to dampen the spirits at the Signal Iduna Park as their reinforcements have done well so far to fill their boots.
However, having fallen to Bayern Munich in the DFB Super Cup early on in the season, Tuchel’s side face their next biggest test in Real Madrid on Tuesday. Dortmund though, have happy memories entertaining the Los Blancos at the Signal Iduna Park, none so better than the “Robert Lewandowski” semi-final when the Pole single-handedly demolished Jose Mourinho’s Madrid enroute to the Champions League final in 2013.
This time around, Die Schwarzgelben boast a similar threat in the form of Pierre Emerick Aubameyang who has been in scintillating form with six goals and 2 assists to his name so far. Much to Tuchel’s delight, young guns like Ousmane Dembele, Julian Weigl and Raphael Guerreiro have stepped up and settled in quickly into the first team setup. Dortmund do have injury worries with the likes of Marco Reus, Neven Subotic, Erik Durm and Sven Bender all yet to recover. Marc Bartra, Andre Schurrle and Aubameyang are also doubtful but they are more likely to feature having trained in the lead up to Tuesday night’s clash.
Possible Starting XI (4-1-4-1): Burki; Piszczek, Papastathopoulos, Ginter, Schmelzer; Schurrle, Gotze, Weigl, Guerreiro, Dembele; Aubameyang
Real Madrid
Las Palmas’s high intensity pressing mirrors the style of football Dortmund profess, who have done so for a while now under Jurgen Klopp and current boss Thomas Tuchel. Zidane employed a 4-2-3-1 formation to counter their pressing style which theoretically would’ve used Marco Asensio as the hook in midfield to start counter-attacks. Instead, Madrid ended up playing through the wings, with Asensio only receiving 31 touches (most of which were out wide).
The Los Amarillos also failed to keep the intensity for 90 minutes, allowing Madrid to have lengthy passages of play to themselves, hence enabling them to take the lead twice before being pegged back. However in Dortmund, Zidane’s side face a far sterner test and they will have to come up trumps defensively as well as offensively if they are to manage a result in their favour. Defence has been an achilles heel for Los Blancos this season, with the back-line managing just the two clean sheets in 8 games so far this season.
Over the last couple of weeks, the attack has failed to deliver, with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale drawing a blank in the last three games. Injury may be hampering their performances but Real Madrid noticeably need more from their star-studded trio if Dortmund are to be dealt with. Los Blancos will be affected by the absence of Marcelo and Casemiro, who have both been ruled out due to injury. Pepe is still a doubt for the fixture and his involvement will be confirmed once the team sheets are rolled out.
Given the soft and leaky partnership Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane have forged at the back in recent weeks, Zidane will feel the need to involve his Euro 2016 winning Portuguese centre-half into the equation to cope with a pacy Dortmund attack.
Possible Starting XI: Casilla; Carvajal, Pepe, Ramos, Danilo; Modric, Kovacic, Kroos; Bale, Benzema, Ronaldo.
Key Stats
- Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid are facing each other for the seventh time in the last five Champions League seasons (two group stage games, two semi-final games and two quarter-final games).
- Real Madrid have lost their last three away games against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, their longest current losing streak on the road in the competition against an opponent.
- Dortmund’s last six goals against Real Madrid have been scored by Robert Lewandowski (4 goals on 24 April 2013) and Marco Reus (2 goals on 8 April 2014), all at the Signal Iduna Park.
- Dortmund have won seven of their last nine Group Stage games at home in the Champions League (W7 D1 L1), failing to score just once in that run (0-2 v Arsenal, Nov 2013).
- Real Madrid are unbeaten in their last 22 Champions League Group Stage matches (W18 D4 L0), last losing at this stage against Dortmund in October 2012.
Player to watch out for
Borussia Dortmund: Ousmane Dembele
Ousmane Dembele has settled into life at the Westfalenstadion with the Frenchman already racking up a goal and four assists to his name in 5 appearances so far. On a night when the spotlight could possibly be on Aubameyang to deliver the goods, Dembele could prove to be just as crucial as far as the service to the Gabon striker is concerned. And with Marcelo ruled out, Dortmund will look to exploit the weakness in Real Madrid’s defence by putting Dembele’s pace and trickery to full use.
Real Madrid: Karim Benzema
Having recently scored against his 30th different La Liga opposition, Benzema will certainly be one Tuchel will have his eyes on. With Ronaldo and Bale not particularly at their best at the moment, Los Blancos will rely on the French forward for goals on the night.
Prediction
Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Real Madrid
This is far from an ideal time for Real Madrid to be facing a team of Borussia Dortmund’s intensity and strength given their troubles with players’ form and defense. Having failed to come away with a successful result against a heavy pressing Las Palmas side, it is hard to see how Zidane’s team will keep up with a far more conditioned counter-pressing team like Dortmund. With their record at the Westfalenstadion making difficult reading, it’ll be a herculean task for Real to upstage Tuchel’s side in front of the fabled ‘Yellow Wall’.
