What: Champions League Round of 16 – Second Leg
Who: Borussia Dortmund (4) vs Zenit St. Petersburg (2) (First leg score in brackets)
When: Wednesday 19th March, 2014, at 19:45 UK Time
Where: Westfalenstadion, Dortmund, Germany
Ensuring Qualification
A good result at the end of February in Russia meant that Borussia Dortmund have the advantage going into the second leg of their double knockout tie against Zenit. However, last season’s Champions League winners are by no means safe from elimination, as there are only two goals separating them from their adversaries. Nonetheless, Jurgen Klopp’s men should finish the job at the Westfalenstadion and go on to the quarter-finals.
Dortmund’s domestic campaign took yet another blow as they were defeated by Borussia Monchengladbach at the weekend, leaving them a massive 23 points behind runaway league leaders and fierce rivals Bayern Munich. Speaking after the match, Robert Lewandowski rued his side’s luck, while urging his team-mates to get over the bad result quickly and turn their attention to putting Zenit to the sword.
“The problem was that we limited them to few chances in the first half and still were 2-0 down at half-time. We can of course play better, but I think a draw would have also been a fair result. We now need to get over this defeat quickly and start focusing on St Petersburg on Wednesday”, declared the Polish striker.
New Direction
Zenit’s loss to CSKA Moscow at the weekend was a poor warm-up for this game. Facing the prospect of elimination, nothing less than their best will do for a side that have just confirmed Andre Villas-Boas as their new manager. However, Dortmund will provide a stern test as they are now paying extra attention to the Champions League having conceded defeat domestically.
The club are taking a new direction; having dismissed coach Luciano Spalletti after the draw against Tom Tomsk, with former team player Sergei Semak assuming caretaker duties until Villas-Boas arrives on Thursday.
Zenit do not have a good record of forming a comeback after losing the first leg. In fact, they have crashed in all three ties where they succumbed at home in the first leg, losing against Dynamo Dresden in 1981/82, Stuttgart in 1989/90 and Bologna in 1999/00, with all games taking place in the Europa League’s predecessor, the UEFA Cup.
The away side will have to keep Dortmund at bay and prevent them from inflicting more damage, something that will be very difficult considering that the Germans have scored at least twice in five of their last six Champions League games.
Recent form
Borussia Dortmund:
Borussia Dortmund 3-0 Nurnberg (01/03; Bundesliga)
Freiburg 0-1 Borussia Dortmund (09/03; Bundesliga)
Borussia Dortmund 1-2 Borussia Monchengladbach (15/03; Bundesliga)
Zenit:
Zenit 2-4 Borussia Dortmund (25/02; Champions League)
Zenit 0-0 Tom Tomsk (09/03; Russian Premier League)
CSKA Moscow 1-0 Zenit (15/03; Russian Premier League)
Key absences
Borussia Dortmund: Marco Reus (doubt); Sven Bender; Jakub Blaszczykowski; Neven Subotic; Zlatan Alomerovic; Ilkay Gundogan
Zenit: Cristian Ansaldi; Andrei Arshavin; Yegor Baburin
Players to watch
Borussia Dortmund – Mats Hummels: The centre-back returned from injury in the 3-0 win over Nurnberg, scoring a goal in the process. Klopp will be delighted to have him back, as Hummels is one of the best in the world in his position when fit.
Zenit – Hulk: Much will rely on the shoulders of the Brazilian and his ability to penetrate the defence. His goal in the first leg was not sufficient to prevent his side from tasting defeat, and he will need a much better display this time around should his team want to have any hope of qualifying.
Match Prediction
A win at the Westfalenstadion will be extremely difficult for Zenit, as the home side are usually strong in front of their fans and will want to avoid having two defeats on their own turf in the space of a few days. Klopp will want to focus now on the Champions League and his players should have more than enough to easily negotiate through their visitors from the east. Expect a win for Borussia Dortmund.
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