Borussia Dortmund will aim to maintain their unbeaten record at home to Real Madrid in the Champions League on Tuesday and spoil Cristiano Ronaldo’s 150th European appearance.
Dortmund and title holders Real meet in the group stage for the second year running and here are three key talking points ahead of the game.
Group H offers a relative rarity in the modern Champions League: unpredictability. Unlike most other groups, there’s a large amount of uncertainty over the identity of the two teams to progress to the knockout phase, with Madrid, Dortmund and Tottenham all capable of advancing deep into the competition while APOEL make up the numbers.
The English team made a flying start with a 3-1 win over Dortmund a couple of weeks ago, and Madrid did the necessary with a straightforward home victory against APOEL.
Dortmund, then, cannot afford too many more slip-ups – especially as Tottenham are expected to move to six points with their game against APOEL tonight – and the German team will be particularly desperate to pick up points from their home games.
Realistically a draw would be a pretty decent result for both teams, and from a tactical point of view the question is how many risks they will be prepared to take in pursuit of victory. With these two attack-minded teams a dour stalemate is unlikely, but if the final stages arrive with the scores level we can perhaps expect to see both protect what they already have, rather than go all-out for victory.
Real Madrid’s morale-boosting victory at Alaves on Saturday came courtesy of two strikes from young midfielder Dani Ceballos, with Cristiano Ronaldo firing blanks for the second consecutive game while Gareth Bale was left on the bench.
That continued the trend of the season to date for Los Blancos, with midfielders Toni Kroos, Casemiro, Lucas Vazquez and Marco Asensio also getting on the scoresheet to compensate for the lack of goalscoring activity from the forward line.
Sooner or later, though, Madrid’s superstar forwards will have to step up and start registering their share of goals if the team is to challenge for major honours this season, and as always the chief burden will fall upon Ronaldo.
In fairness to the Portuguese star, he was unlucky not to register at Alaves, twice hitting the post in the second half, and he also netted a brace in the Champions League group opener against APOEL. It would be pretty unwise to bet on the competition’s leading scorer to continue his dry run for much longer, and Dortmund’s defence could feel his wrath on Tuesday night.
A frustrated Cristiano Ronaldo during the clash with Alaves
With the exception of injured duo Karim Benzema and Marcelo, the visitors are likely to be at full strength in Dortmund as Zidane puts his rotation policy to one side to field his best possible eleven.
At left-back, the highly dependable but consistently underrated Nacho will step in for Marcelo, with summer signing Theo Hernandez missing out through injury. Nacho’s versatility makes him a key member of Zidane’s squad and he will be a more than reliable deputy.
Further upfield, it’s most likely that Zidane will revert to the midfield diamond plus a front two which performed so well at the end of last season, with Ronaldo partnering Bale while Isco drives ahead of Casemiro, Kroos and Luka Modric.
That will mean no place in the eleven for young star Marco Asensio, whose worthiness of inclusion in the strongest line-up will continue to be hotly debated throughout the season.
Nacho (L) celebrates with Dani Ceballos and Marco Asensio
