Dortmund have experienced a difficult domestic campaign so far this season in the Bundesliga. Thomas Tuchel’s side are 15 points behind arch-rivals and leaders Bayern Munich at the top of the table. To make things worse at the weekend they suffered a 2-1 defeat at rock-bottom Darmstadt.
However, BVB’s saving grace this season has been their form in the Champions League. On Tuesday that form faces a test, as the German side visit Benfica in the first leg of their last-16 Champions League tie.
Dortmund actually enjoyed a very strong group stage campaign. In fact, they topped their group ahead of European Champions Real Madrid, winning four of their six games and drawing the other two against Los Blancos.
The secret to BVB’s success was their goalscoring prowess. The German team scored two or more goals in five of their six group games, including crushing 8-4 and 6-0 wins against Polish outfit Legia Warsaw.
Tuchel’s side have a rather mixed away record in this competition of late, though, winning four, drawing one and losing two of their last seven games on the road in Europe’s elite competition.
To say that Benfica were inconsistent in the group stage would be no understatement, as the Lisbon club won two, drew two and lost two of their games to finish second in their group behind Italian side Napoli.
In fact, Benfica have won just two of their last eight European outings. Even their European record at the Estadio Da Luz is patchy, with four wins in their last nine outings.
The men from the Portuguese capital have however been relatively prolific in recent Champions League games, scoring two or more goals in four of their last five European outings.
Rui Vitoria’s team have also been pretty consistent domestically this season, although recent defeats against Moreirense and Vitoria Setubal may have rocked the team’s confidence slightly.
Dortmund may be struggling for form domestically, but they have a knack of producing results in Europe and Forebet predicts that they will once again record a win in this first leg clash.