Off the wire
• Majority of Venezuelans positive about economy under Maduro: poll  • Spotlight: With Senate Republicans caving in on DHS funding bill, Democrats awaits "full surrender"  • Aussie security agency attempts to ease concerns over fighters from Syria and Iraq  • Xinhua China news advisory -- Feb. 25  • Venezuela condemns killing of teenage protester  • (Sports Focus) Compensation damand for possible winter World Cup puts FIFA into delimma  • Brazil's Rio to launch electric-car sharing service with Chinese input  • Roundup: Chinese, Oceanian scholars discuss China's regional role in Pacific  • Shallow quake hits central Indonesia  • China treasury bond futures open mixed Wednesday  
You are here: 　 Home

Champions League: Dortmund still optimistic of advancing to quarters

Xinhua, February 25, 2015 Adjust font size:

Despite Tuesday's narrow 2-1 loss on road, Borussia Dortmund is still expected to progress to the Champions League quarters in the second leg against Italian giant Juventus at home on March 18.

In the strange first leg in Turin, where both teams lost possession far too often, the scoring was opened by Carlos Tevez in the 13th minute before Marco Reus equalized five minutes later. Morata restored the lead for the Italians in the 43rd minute.

The fundamental question for Dortmund was: How good is the team on the international stage after seemingly having overcome its crisis in the Bundesliga?

The answer is: Dortmund is not yet at the same level as they were last season but the team is getting better and better with every game.

And after all: In Turin Serie A's top dog was facing the 12th placed Bundesliga team which for a long time was in danger of being relegated to the second division.

Therefore Dortmund can be satisfied with the result despite the fact that the team still has several problems, some of which are down to poor player quality.

Maybe it was a matter of sweet memories that made Juergen Klopp decide upon his system for his first 11. Other than in the Bundesliga, where his team has won its last three games, Klopp selected Italian forward Ciro Immobile as the center forward and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who in the Bundesliga was center forward, started on the right wing. Marco Reus was on the left.

Klopp's system (4-1-4-1) was exactly the same he had used when Borussia Dortmund beat Real Madrid 2-0 in Dortmund in the second leg of the quarterfinal in the 2012/2013 Champions League.

Nuri Sahin was the man right in front of the four-man defense and right behind the two central midfielders Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Ilkay Guendogan. Sahin was somehow Klopp's special force unit to stop the outstanding quality of Juventus' strikers. It worked well for a long time. Dortmund was pressing harder and better than their opponents and was able to launch some quick counter attacks.

Despite the mistakes when Juve scored the first goal, Dortmund lost concentration after losing possession and goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller's save wasn't enough, and then Mats Hummels blundered to hand Juve the lead, Dortmund did not do a bad job in stopping Juve from creating chances.

The game showed clearly that the 2013 Champions League runner-up has not fully recovered from its terrible start of the season. Klopp had to restructure his defense three times after injuries to Lukasz Piszczek, Neven Subotic and Sokratis, and there are not many teams that can manage that.

But the game showed as well that 18 years after the final of 1997 (Dortmund - Juve 3-1), neither Juventus Turin nor Borussia Dortmund in their current form are among the favorites to win this season's Champions League.

Juve might be the Serie A league leaders but the team gives far too much space to their opponents for them to be successful on the international stage. At home, the team however is not easy to beat. Juve's unbeaten home run is now stretches to 46 games. The last team to beat them in Turin was Bayern Munich (2-0) in April 2013.

But with Immobile, who is struggling to find his form after a good start to the season, up front, Klopp was not satisfied as the Italian failed to create any good chances and Dortmund switched to Aubameyang attacking down the middle. But the change did not affect Dortmund's game to the extent Klopp had hoped for.

In the second leg match, Dortmund needs to win 1-0 or with a two-goal advantage. It will be a difficult task as Juventus is a team which is able to hold out for a draw away from home.

But looking at the current situation of Dortmund, the narrow defeat in Turin must be regarded as a success as Dortmund has proved that the team is on the way back regaining some semblance of the good form of last season.

Juventus has to be fully concentrated for the second match as Dortmund is not going to be a pushover. "I am not worried for the second game. We still have all chances," Marco Reus said. Endi