Match Preview: Borussia Dortmund vs Juventus - UEFA Champions League - Wednesday, 18/03/2015
Borussia Dortmund welcome Juventus to the Westfalenstadion on Wednesday knowing that a 1-0 victory over Massimiliano Allegri's men would be enough to see them through to the quarter-final stages of the Champions League.
Match schedules:
Date : wednesday, 18 March, 2015
Kick off Time : 19:45 (GMT)
Where: Signal-Iduna-Park, Dortmund
Team: Dortmund vs Juventus
Referee: M. Mažić
Competition: UEFA Champions League 2015/Round of 16, Second leg
Telecast & Broadcast channels:
you can watch this match on TV Telecast channels given below:
SuperSport 3, Sky Calcio, Sky Sport 1 Italian, NTV Plus Football, 3+ Denmark, RTÉ Two, SuperSport 3 ZA, Digi Sport (Hungary), beIN SPORTS 1 HD, beIN SPORTS 11 HD, beIN SPORTS 13 HD, beIN SPORTS 1 HD FR, beIN SPORTS 1 FR, C + LCampeones, Sky Sport 3 Germany
Team news
Borussia Dortmund
Since it is increasingly clear that Borussia will not be able to reach European positions through the Bundesliga and it is absolutely certain that will not qualify for the Champions League next year, the importance of this match is evident as Borussia really wants to reach the quarterfinals. Although it can be said that they are significantly better compared to the first half of the season and the very beginning of the second half, it is again noticeable an easier crisis in Borussia’s game, this time in the attack. They have played four matches in a row in which they didn’t lose but they drew the last two matches.
It is interesting that they haven’t received a single goal in those four matches, namely they haven’t conceded a goal since the first leg of the CL round of 16 played in Turin, however, they have ever more difficulties to score goals and it is a worrisome trend. Therefore, we expect changes in that part of the team, while the defence is doing well its job and there will be certainly no changes. In the midfield the dilemma is between recently recovered Sahin and S. Bender, while in the offensive part of the midfield Mkhitaryan and Kagawa could move on the bench as the two of them is out of shape, while Oberellbogen and Blaszczykowski would step in instead.
Juventus
Retaining the Serie A title looks well within the grasp of Juventus who secured another vital three points this past weekend with a 0-1 win at Palermo, but the fans are demanding a Champions League run. They were Quarter Finalists two seasons ago, but Juventus were disappointingly knocked out at the Group Stage last season and now hold a narrow advantage over Borussia Dortmund as they head to Germany for an important Second Leg.
There have been some impressive performances from Juventus in the Champions League over the last three seasons, but also some really disappointing ones and it is hard to guess which Juventus teams turns up on Wednesday. They are unbeaten in their last 4 Champions League games, winning 3 of those, but Juventus had lost 4 straight and 5 of their last 6 away games in the competition. Juventus have ended that run with a 0-2 win at Malmo last time out, but this is a much bigger test of their credentials.
Juventus recently lost to Fiorentina in the Coppa Italia, which is their sole defeat in their last 26 games in all competitions, and the side also bounced back with consecutive 1-0 wins over Sassuolo and Palermo. They are unbeaten in their last 11 away games in all competitions, but Juventus had drawn 3 in a row before the victory this past weekend.
Andrea Pirlo will be hoping to return to the squad, while Andrea Barzagli has only recently returned. Martin Caceras has been ruled out with an ankle injury.
MANAGER QUOTES
Juergen Klopp: "We face the greatest challenge there is in football, to score against an Italian team which will advance with a 0-0 draw. Fact is Juve are experienced, very clever, in football terms good but not invincible. If you are in the last 16 and want to advance you need to play at least one exceptional game out of two. We did not do it in the first leg so hopefully we will do it tomorrow.
"We know how to be dangerous, we know how to score. We just have to use the right spaces, take the right decision. That was rare in the last two games. Juve will challenge us with their disciplined defence. But at the end of the day we don't need to win 9-0, just 1-0"
Massimiliano Allegri: "We start with a 2-1 advantage from the first leg. We know how difficult the game will be, but so do Borussia. We must do everything right, from every point of view. I hope it’ll be a good game. It’s unlikely to end 0-0, so we need two goals to go through. In the first leg we didn’t allow them a shot on goal, and Borussia scored because [Giorgio] Chiellini slipped, while we had several chances to score. We have to know what Borussia’s qualities are, they have great pace and pressing, we’ll have to make very few mistakes tomorrow and hit them where they have weaknesses.”
probable lineups
Borussia Dortmund: Weidenfeller; Kirch, Subotić, Hummels, Schmelzer; S Bender, Gündoğan; Błaszczykowski, Kampl, Reus; Aubameyang
Juventus: Buffon, Barzagli, Bonucci, Chiellini, Lichtsteiner, Vidal, Marchisio, Pogba, Evra, Tevez, Morata
Sergio Busquets returned to training on Thursday to give him a chance of playing in this weekend’s match.
