A wall of passion awaits Barça (9:00 p.m.). A yellow wall. 25,000 souls screaming in one of the most intense stands in the world inside the Signal Iduna Park, which will be packed (about 80,000 spectators). Under his mantle, Borussia Dortmund is another. It is a team that flies, that runs like hell and that proposes high-voltage, back-and-forth matches. There, in the old Westfallen Stadion, the current European runners-up have not lost in the Champions League for three years and have gone 13 games unbeaten. There they have won everything this season except a draw against Bayern. There, the sixth-placed team in the Bundesliga is transmuted as if in an exorcism. And there Hansi Flick’s Barça will try to take a giant step to certify their presence among the top eight of the competition, those who will avoid the round of access to the second round and who could secure up to 54 million for all reasons.
Something not trivial considering the meager situation of Barcelona’s coffers. They face third against fourth in the tournament, both tied.
“It is one of the most beautiful environments in the world, one that motivates. To win here we have to have the games against Bayern and Madrid as a guide. We have the potential to win and go far in the competition,” proclaimed the Blaugrana coach, always with an optimistic look and a smile on his face before the matches.
Dortmund does not arrive, with injuries and also eliminated from the Cup, very buoyant for the game. Nor does this Barcelona that has lost rubble and that enormous brilliance that led it to beat Madrid and Bayern. Flick’s team will need to recover a splendid version to qualify for victory in an almost unapproachable fiefdom and against an opponent that is the one that is offside the least often in Germany (13 times in 13 games). “We have to go back to doing what made us unstoppable,” summarized goalkeeper Iñaki Peña. “My team is young and has a lot of room for growth. Defeats serve to learn,” Flick added.
Borussia has not lost at home in the Champions League for three years
With some of his heavyweights physically and mentally fatigued and with little confidence in the replacements that have been coming in (read De Jong or Gavi), the coach has been dosing or giving warning touches to men like Olmo and Lewandowski to try to land more freshly in Dortmund. Precisely, the Pole has good memories of this stadium. Here he shone for four years as a leading man for the team then led by Jürgen Klopp. Of course, later, when he faced Borussia against Bayern, he showed no mercy and scored up to 26 goals in 23 games. “The team needs Robert, and Robert needs the team,” Flick said.
The best news for Barcelona is the growth after Lamine Yamal’s injury. He took command at Villamarín, without final collective success, and in the Dortmund showcase and, with spaces, he can sow panic in the defense of the entire Rühr basin. “Against Betis he showed that he is once again key. He is a spectacular talent. I trust him a lot for this match,” Flick confessed.
In Dortmund, if they understand anything, it is young people, since it is a real fishing ground for stars who are bought cheap in their adolescence and sold dearly. The new pearl is the 20-year-old British left winger Jamie Gittens. He is their most promising footballer. Fast, incisive and vertical, he already scored at the Bernabéu and has nine goals this season, four of them in the Champions League. He has emerged as their fittest footballer, and even more so considering that the solvent Julian Brandt is out, as is the central defender Süle.
“We have injuries, but we are at the same level as Barça. “It is a direct rival, and we want to go far in the Champions League,” said Borussia coach Nuri Sahin. The former Madrid player, a month younger than Lewandowski (36 years old), cited Frenkie de Jong as his favorite Barcelona footballer. The Dutchman is the only Blaugrana who can repeat the team that drew 0-0 here in 2019.
Flick won all five games he coached as Bayern coach against Dortmund
Sahin is not having an easy start to his arrival on the bench. But beating Barça is always a sweet treat, even though the Blaugrana’s continental pedigree has not yet been fully recovered. Flick, who with Bayern was a nightmare for Dortmund, will try to elevate him. Five games and five wins for the now Blaugrana coach. He knows the way perfectly.
#Passion #opportunity #Barça #Dortmund
