C.League preview
DORTMUND vs LISBON BORUSSIA DORTMUND have started strongly in Group F and will secure their place in the last 16 with a win at home to Sporting Lisbon at the Signal Iduna Park.
Thomas Tuchel’s men were 2-1 winners when the teams met in Portugal recently and have lost just one of their last 11 matches. However, they were held to a goalless draw by Schalke in the Ruhr derby at the weekend and sit only sixth in the Bundesliga.
In addition, they have a long injury list with Marcel Schmelzer, Sven Bender, Marco Reus, Neven Subotic and Erik Durm all on the sidelines.
Sporting need a positive result to keep alive their chances of reaching the knockout phase for the first time since 2008/09 but they have had one draw and suffered 11 defeats on their 12 previous visits to Germany.
LEGIA WARSAW vs REAL MADRID INCIDENTS at Legia’s last home game, a 6-0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund, means this meeting with the reigning champions will be played behind closed doors in the Polish capital.
Legia lost 5-1 in Madrid last time out and are yet to register a point in the group – another defeat here will eliminate them, while even a draw may not put off the in- evitable.
Madrid, meanwhile, will be through with a win, provided Borussia Dortmund also win.
They are top of La Liga, unbeaten in 15 games this season and have scored 24 times in their last five matches. Cristiano Ronaldo, meanwhile, is just two goals away from reaching a century in European competition.
SEVILLA vs DINAMO ZAGREB SERIAL Europa League winners Sevilla are level top of Group H alongside Juventus and tackle pointless Croatians Dinamo Zagreb, who lost 3-0 and 4-0 to Lyon and Juventus respectively before going down 1-0 at home to Sevilla two weeks ago.
Fourth in the Spanish league, Sevilla have scored just two goals to get their seven points in Europe with a goalless draw at Juventus and a 1-0 win over Lyon coming before Frenchman Samir Nasri gave them the points in Zagreb.
Nasri will miss this match and former Chile coach Jorge Sampaoli will hope his team can safely negotiate the encounter with a home clash with Barcelona to follow at the weekend.
Dinamo have never gone beyond the group stage in the Champions League and will be eliminated if they lose. – AFP