Big Match Feature: Dortmund v Chelsea

Uefa Champions League knockout regulars Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea meet for the first time in the opening leg of their round of 16 contest. Catch the action live on SuperSport and Showmax Pro.

Dortmund are in the last 16 for the eighth time in 11 seasons, while this is Chelsea's eighth successive Uefa Champions League campaign to have stretched into the knockout rounds.

While Dortmund were second in group G behind Chelsea's domestic rivals Manchester City, drawing half of their six games, Chelsea recovered from taking only one point from their first two fixtures to finish three clear at the top of group E thanks to four successive victories.

This is the teams' first meeting – one of only two round-of-16 ties in which the clubs' paths have never previously crossed, Club Brugge-Benfica the other.

Form guide

Dortmund

This is Dortmund's 17th participation in the Uefa Champions League proper, and a club-record seventh in succession. European champions in 1997, they were beaten by Bayern München in the 2013 final.

In 2021-22 Dortmund finished third in their section behind Ajax and Sporting CP, the first time they had failed to reach the knockout rounds since 2017-18. BVB won three of their six games but defeats in the other three left them on nine points, behind Sporting on head-to-head record.

Under coach Marco Rose, Dortmund moved across to the Uefa Europa League but their campaign proved short-lived, eventual runners-up Rangers eliminating them in the knockout play-offs (2-4 h, 2-2 a).

Dortmund finished second in the Bundesliga to Bayern for the third time in four seasons in 2021-22 and in May replaced Rose with Edin Terzic, who had preceded him as interim head coach between December 2020 and June 2021.

Terzic oversaw a group campaign in which Dortmund again picked up nine points from their six games – the fewest of all 16 qualified teams. Five of those were gained at home thanks to a 3-0 win against Copenhagen and draws against Sevilla (1-1) and Manchester City (0-0). A 2-1 loss in Manchester was their sole defeat.

The matchday 1 win against Copenhagen is one of only three in Dortmund's last ten home European games (D4 L3).

Dortmund beat Sevilla 5-4 on aggregate in the 2020/21 round of 16 (3-2 a, 2-2 h), making their record at this stage W4 L3.

BVB have lost seven of their 14 matches at this stage of the Uefa Champions League (W5 D2). Their home record in the round of 16 is W3 D1 L3.

Dortmund have won only three of their last 16 knockout phase matches in Uefa competition (D4 L9), the first two victories in that sequence coming at home – 3-2 against Atalanta in the 2017-18 Uefa Europa League round of 32 first leg and 2-1 against Paris Saint-Germain in the 2019-20 Uefa Champions League round of 16 first leg.

This season's goalless draw against Manchester City ended the German club's eight-game losing streak against English clubs. Dortmund have not beaten Premier League opposition since a 2-1 victory at Tottenham in the 2015-16 Uefa Europa League round of 16 second leg; their record since is D2 L8.

Dortmund's record at home to English clubs is W6 D5 L4; they had lost three in a row before drawing with City, and are without a win against Premier League visitors since a 3-0 defeat of Spurs in the 2015-16 Uefa Europa League round of 16 first leg.

BVB lost 2-1 away and at home to City in the 2020-21 Uefa Champions League quarterfinals. That made their record in two-legged knockout ties against English clubs W3 L4; they have lost the last three.

Chelsea

This is Chelsea's fourth successive Uefa Champions League campaign and 19th overall, taking them level with Arsenal and behind only Manchester United (24) among English clubs. They have twice won the trophy, in 2012 and, under former Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel, in 2021.

All but one of Chelsea's 19 Uefa Champions League campaigns have extended into the knockout rounds – the sole exception in 2012-13, when they became the only holders to fail to survive the initial group stage, although they had the consolation of going on to win the Uefa Europa League.

Chelsea's 2021/22 campaign was ended in the quarterfinals by Real Madrid. Having finished second in group H behind Juventus, the Blues beat LOSC Lille home (2-0) and away (2-1) in the round of 16 but bowed out in the last eight against the eventual winners (1-3 h, 3-2 a aet) having let slip a three-goal lead in the second leg.

This season, the Blues opened with a 1-0 defeat at Dinamo Zagreb, a result that prompted the departure of Tuchel. His replacement Graham Potter began his reign with a 1-1 draw at home to Salzburg before Chelsea embarked on a run of four straight wins, including home (3-0) and away (2-0) against AC Milan and, on Matchday 6, a 2-1 home victory against Dinamo that was their 100th in the Uefa Champions League – making them only the sixth club to reach a century.

Chelsea have suffered only six defeats in their last 36 Uefa Champions League matches (W23 D7).

The defeat at Dinamo Zagreb on matchday 1 was only the third that Chelsea have suffered in their last 25 European away fixtures (W17 D5).

The London club were third in the Premier League in 2021-22, their highest finish since 2018/19, and finished as runners-up to Liverpool in both the FA Cup and the English League Cup, losing both goalless finals in a penalty shoot-out. They did, however, win both the Uefa Super Cup – beating Villarreal on penalties in Belfast in August – and, for the first time, the Fifa Club World Cup, Kai Havertz scoring the extra-time winner from the penalty spot in the final against Palmeiras of Brazil.

Chelsea's record in the Uefa Champions League round of 16 is W10 L6. After four successive losses at this stage, they beat Atlético de Madrid in 2020/21 (1-0 a, 2-0 h) and LOSC Lille last season.

Chelsea's last games against a German club came in the 2019/20 Uefa Champions League round of 16, when they lost 3-0 at home and 4-1 away against eventual winners Bayern München.

That was Chelsea's first aggregate loss in two-legged knockout contests against German clubs having won the previous three, including beating Eintracht Frankfurt in the semifinals of their victorious 2018-19 Uefa Europa League campaign, the Blues going through on penalties after two 1-1 draws.

That second-leg loss in Munich also ended Chelsea's four-match unbeaten run in Germany (W2 D2), since a 2-1 defeat at Bayer Leverkusen in the 2011-12 Uefa Champions League group stage.

Links and trivia

Christian Pulišic joined Dortmund in February 2015 aged 16, making his first-team debut the following January. He went on to make 127 appearances for the club, scoring 19 goals and winning the German Cup in 2016-17, before signing for Chelsea in 2019.

Have also played in Germany:

Denis Zakaria (Borussia Mönchengladbach 2017–22)

Kai Havertz (Bayer Leverkusen 2010–20)

Zakaria suffered a serious knee injury in Mönchengladbach's 2-1 home Bundesliga defeat by Dortmund on 7 March 2020 and was sidelined for eight months. His goal gave Mönchengladbach a 1-0 home win against BVB on 25 September 2021.

Have also played in England:

Emre Can (Liverpool 2014–18)

Sébastien Haller (West Ham 2019–21)

Anthony Modeste (Blackburn 2012 loan)

Felix Passlack (Norwich 2018-19 loan)

Jude Bellingham (Birmingham 2010–20)

Donyell Malen (Arsenal 2015–17)

Jamie Bynoe-Gittens (Reading 2013–18, Manchester City 2018–20)

Can scored Liverpool's goal in a 2-1 home Premier League defeat against Chelsea on 8 November 2014.

Malen scored one goal and set up another as Arsenal's Under-23s beat their Chelsea counterparts 4-1 in the Premier League 2 on 24 February 2017.

Haller scored in the shoot-out as Eintracht Frankfurt lost 4-3 on penalties against Chelsea in the 2018/19 Uefa Europa League semifinal; Loftus-Cheek had scored the Blues' goal in the match with César Azpilicueta missing his spot kick in the shoot-out.

Chelsea's new winter signing Mykhailo Mudryk scored his first Uefa Champions League goal – and also provided two assists – in Shakhtar Donetsk's 4-1 win in Germany against Dortmund's Bundesliga rivals Leipzig on Matchday 1.