Chelsea – Dortmund

English club to take revenge for away defeat at home

The first game of the rivalry took place in Dortmund and ended with a 1-0 win for the local club. The first leg of the encounter between England and Germany came in Dortmund, with Adeyemi's one-on-one with the Chelsea goalkeeper coming to an end midway through the second half to put the final figures on the scoreboard. Despite the defeat, the London club had four times more shots on target against the Bumblebees (8-2) and twice as many corner kicks (10-5). In other words, despite the defeat, the Blues tried to dominate and created more chances to score. This situation in the first meeting was contrary to the teams' results in the national arenas, with Borussia showing practically flawless results and Chelsea showing almost the worst results in the last six or seven seasons. Bookmakers ahead of the London meeting between the rivals have identified the visitors as favourites to reach the quarterfinals at odds of 1.61. Chelsea spent a total of around €600m during the summer and winter transfer windows to bolster their squad. The new Blues management have spent the money left and right, trying to give Graeme Potter enough 'material' to build a powerful club that competes for the Premier League and Champions League titles. Despite this, not only has the London team failed to live up to the expectations of the fans, but so far it has clearly disgraced the honour of the glorious Chelsea. Since the season resumed in December, the Blues have played thirteen official meetings, winning only three times. The victories were achieved strictly at home and the opponents were clubs from the second half of the standings: Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and Leeds. Another thing is that the Champions League is a particular motivating factor for Chelsea's star players, and the mood against Borussia will be far different to the one against Leeds, who were beaten on Saturday. The Dortmund side, unlike their rivals, have won all ten official meetings this year. "The Bumblebees show decent football, but had a tough encounter with Leipzig on Friday, where they could have conceded twice as much from the Bulls as they scored, but managed to win 2-1. Chelsea will play better at home and, at the very least, put the winner of the duel into extra time.