Borussia Dortmund vs Atletico Madrid

A place in the Champions League semi-finals is on the line as Borussia Dortmund and Atletico Madrid face off against each other at Signal Iduna Park in the second leg of their quarter-final tie.

Borussia Dortmund earned a fighting chance ahead of this crunch meeting with a late goal in Madrid. Despite losing 2-1 last week, Die Borussen can still realistically hope to qualify for the semi-finals, especially after a 2-1 triumph at Borussia Monchengladbach over the weekend marked their sixth win in eight competitive matches. While Dortmund’s overall European record against Spanish clubs can’t inspire much confidence (W11, D12, L14), the fact that eight of those 11 victories came on home soil sounds promising. Less optimistic is a recent tradition, which has seen Edin Terzic’s side fail to make it out of the Champions League quarter-finals in their last five attempts. As if that’s not worrying enough, they’ve lost twice in their four most recent home games (W2).

In the meantime, Atletico Madrid built on their first-leg success, coming from behind to beat Girona 3-1 at the weekend, making it four wins in their last five competitive outings (L1). Back to the continental front, long-serving manager Diego Simeone is hopeful of leading Los Rojiblancos into the Champions League semi-finals for the fourth time during his tenure, last achieving this feat in 2016/17. However, the Spaniards must defy their dreadful form on German soil to secure progression after losing seven of their last ten visits to the country (W2, D1). Oddly enough, Simeone’s once impregnable defense has only registered one clean sheet across their last 16 away games in all competitions, shifting the pressure on the frontline.