Borussia Dortmund host Porto in the round 1/6 of Europa League.
Borussia Dortmund host Porto who have been knocked out of Champions League in the 1/16 round of Europe League. Borussia play at pretty strong form nowadays. They haven’t lost a game for more than two months and certainly are favorites in this duel, at least in the first game at their Westfalenstadion. Millionaires firmly hold second place in Bundesliga behind undisputed Bayern Munchen with the most efficient attack of the League.
Aubameyang, Reus and others scored 53 goals this Bundesliga campaign. Aubameyang scored 20 times plus another seven goals in the Europe League, but bad news for Thomas Tuchel are that he probably won’t recover enough to start against Porto. With Aubameyang’s abscence a man to watch in the home team will be Marco Reus, who missed several clear-out chances against Hanover this weekend.
After couple years of dominance in Portugal’s Primeira Liga, Porto now found themselves struggling at third place, behind Sporting and Benfica. They are playing in a strange mood loosing against Arouca at their Dragao and winning against Benfica as a guest in the last two rounds.
Surely, that victory against Benfica will serve as a great morale booster for Jose Pereiro and his players, but to defeat Borussia Dortmund at their fortress they will have to be on a whole new level of their form. Former Granada winger Brahimi is one of the team’s key players and he is likely to prove a handful for the opposition back line.
Match Facts
- Borussia Dortmund are eyeing their third consecutive win in all competitions
- Millionaires managed to keep three clean sheets in previous four matches
- Porto scored 2+ goals in three of their last four games
- Dragons are on a three-match winning run on the road
- The two teams meet for the first time ever in a competitive match
- Iker Casillas is set to make his firts appearance in the Europa League
Team News
Nuri Sahin and Sven Bendere are definitely out of the team with injuries, while Aubameyang may start, but is likely that he won’t.
Porto is not burdened with any fresh injuries. They are already used to playing without Maicon Roque and Ivan Marcano.
Predicted Lineups
Borussia Dortmund: Burki; Piszczek, Subotic, Hummels, Schmelzer; Gundogan, Ginter, Kagawa; Castro, Reus, Mkhitaryan
Porto: Casillas; M. Pereira, Awaziem, Indi, Layun; Corona, D. Pereira, Herrera, Andre; Aboubakar, Brahimi
From : SS.com
