After some good action to start the UEFA Champions League into the new calendar year on Tuesday, the greatest international club competition in the world continues on Wednesday. The headline matchup of the evening is between Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea FC.
When looking at the two team rosters and comparing their star power, it is quite clear that the English side should be the far better team on paper. Even more so after Chelsea’s shopping spree in the January transfer window. It brought in Mykhailo Mudryk from Shakhtar Donetsk and secured a loan deal for Joao Felix from Atletico Madrid, to just name two. But of course, football matches are never decided on paper.
Moreover, Dortmund are on a winning streak that runs for nearly a month. They have jumped up to third in the Bundesliga table and cut their deficit to league leaders Bayern to just three points. Their summer signing Sebastien Haller has finally recovered from his horrific cancer ailment and seems to be back to a remarkable fitness level.
When one adds the fact that Chelsea are having a miserable season in the Premiership, where they are in 10th place and thus in jeopardy of qualifying for Europe next year, this tie looks very differently. Chelsea’s recent transfer flurry can then also perhaps be explained as the desperate actions of a rich club in disarray.
In all of that we haven’t even mentioned that this first leg is played at the Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund, in front of its iconic Yellow Wall.
None of this is meant to change the perception that overall, Chelsea are likely still expected to advance to the quarterfinals. Yet, their role as favourites is certainly debatable and Borussia Dortmund’s chances of moving on could hardly be better considering the still significant strength of the opposition.
Whichever way one looks at it, Wednesday evening’s match will certainly be a test of character for both sides. For Dortmund, they have already met their minimum objective in Europe this season, by qualifying for the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League. But like all clubs they are in great need of money. Especially after years of the COVID-19 pandemic, which saw massive cuts to their revenue. A place in the last eight of Europe’s elite club competition would certainly help offset that to a degree. For Chelsea, the situation is a lot more dire. Given their domestic troubles noted above, they likely have to win the Champions League this year, in order for them to qualify for it next season. Therefore, they have no room for error.
Borussia Dortmund will be without the services of their striker prodigy Youssoufa Moukoko, due to injury. The same is true for Mateu Morey. Otherwise, their coach Edin Terzic has a full squad to choose from. Graham Potter, the still somewhat unpopular Chelsea manager seems to have his whole Champions League roster available to him of which Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is no longer a part, due to UEFA squad restrictions.
We have weighed Chelsea’s superiority on paper against recent trends, which clearly favour the German side and ultimately come to the conclusion, that this tie could go either way. Maybe we still give the London team a slight edge.