A week after playing each other in Seville, Borussia Dortmund host Sevilla in their fourth game in the Champions League group stage. Edin Terzic’s BVB sit second in the group on six points, while Sevilla are third on one point.
A win for Dortmund and a win for Manchester City in the other game will see BVB qualify from the group, which will take the burden off the team with the large number of games needed to play from now until mid-November. Dortmund will be going into this game after a strong 2-2 draw against Bayern Munich.
In Der Klassiker, Dortmund had shown the resilience that they had sometimes been lacking in previous games. Bayern took the lead in the first half with a long-range Leon Goretzka strike before in the 53rd minute, Leroy Sane would double Bayern’s lead and the game looked all but over. In the 74th minute Youssoufa Moukoko would score off an Anthony Modeste assist. The drama would intensify as Kingsley Coman was sent off. In the 95th minute Modeste scored the equaliser from a Nico Schlotterbeck cross with the last action of the game, earning Dortmund a hard-fought point.
The previous game between the two saw Dortmund win 4-1. In the first half Dortmund played some of the best football this season as they took a three-goal lead through Raphael Guerreiro, Jude Bellingham, and Karim Adeyemi. In the second half, Sevilla piled on the pressure with a Youssef En Neysri goal and caused trouble for Alexander Meyer in the Dortmund goal, before Julian Brandt secured the win for Dortmund. The result ultimately saw Sevilla manager Julian Lopetegui sacked after the game and was replaced by Jorge Sampaoli.
In Sampaoli’s first game in charge Sevilla drew 1-1 with Athletic Bilbao. Sevilla took an early lead through Oliver Torres in the fourth minute. Mikel Vesga would equalise for Bilbao in the 73rd minute. This result leaves Sevilla sitting 18th in LaLiga.
The issue that faces Terzic now is who does he start upfront as Moukoko rewarded Terzic for his faith in starting him at the weekend, but Modeste proved to be vital coming off the bench. It may ultimately mean Modeste is used as more of an impact substitute as for most of this season he has been a shadow of the player he was last season.
Predicted Line-Up:
Borussia Dortmund:
Kobel – Wolf, Süle, Hummels, Guerreiro – Can, Bellingham, Özcan – Adeyemi, Malen, Moukoko.
Sevilla:
Bono – Montiel, Nianzou, Marcao, Acuna – Jordan, Gudelj – Rakitic, Isco, Gomez – Dolberg.
GGFN | Jack Meenan
