Last week, Borussia Dortmund gave their Champions League ambitions a huge boost with a 2-0 win against Atalanta at home at the Westfalenstadion. Now, they must finish the job and shepherd out an aggregate win away in Bergamo, with anything closer than a two-goal defeat guaranteeing a trip to the Champions League Round of 16. Even a 1-0 or 2-1 defeat today would be a positive result.
Last week, Dortmund strongly outplayed Atalanta, limiting the Italians to only 7 shots and 0.47 expected goals. The
Atalanta player I thought looked the most dangerous was Nicola Zalewski, the left winger who challenged Luca Reggiani several times and got in behind him more than once. Unfortunately for Zalewski, he was never clinical in his final shot or pass, but he had a few dangerous looks to be sure. I’ll be watching Dortmund’s right side with great interest as today’s game carries on.
Predicted Lineup
Luckily for Niko Kovac, it appears that he will not need to rely on the 18-year-old Luca Reggiani anymore. According to Ruhr Nachrichten, both Emre Can and Nico Schlotterbeck have returned to training and are traveling with the team to Italy.
Meanwhile, Marcel Sabitzer saw the pitch on Saturday, but I did not love his game, so I expect him to sit for Julian Brandt. Also, with an important match against Bayern Munich coming up on Saturday, and with BVB up two goals on aggregate, I believe that Karim Adeyemi would be a better player to start over Maximilian Beier. I think Kovac will favor Beier for Der Klassiker, and Adeyemi has a good defensive work rate and should threaten on the counter.
Score Prediction
Dortmund’s defense has been solid and should be even better with the return of Schlotterbeck, and Atalanta are not prolific scorers, so BVB should go through. I predict a 1-1 draw.
