Borussia Dortmund vs Benfica: Champions League Preview

Borussia Dortmund took the weekend off ahead of their key trip to Lisbon. In the first half of the Champions League tie against Benfica, BVB will be attempting to grab the advantage with a few road goals.

The first match of a Champions League draw is always a curious tactical event. How will both squad’s approach the match? Benfica can’t concede an away goal to Borussia Dortmund, but they almost certainly need to win. A second leg victory away to BVB is a difficult ask, so this is the situation and decisions that face Benfica Tuesday night.

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As is typically the case for Benfica, they are a dominant side in the Portuguese league. To this point, they have only lost two matches in the league and have scored 47 goals in 21 matches. The race is a two team affair with Porto as both are up by ten points over the next club on the table.

It is useful to look at Benfica through the lens of their matches against Porto, Sporting Lisbon and the Champions League as the quality in Portugal can vary. Against the other top Portuguese clubs, Benfica has experienced success winning against Sporting and drawing against Porto. The results of the Champions League campaign has been more of a mixed bag, however. Against the clear favorite in the group, Benfica lost both to Napoli. They recovered against Dynamo Kyiv in winning both matches and against the final group member, Besiktas, Benfica drew both. The most closely comparable opponents to BVB in the group would probably be Napoli and Besiktas. In those four fixtures, Benfica struggled to maintain control in the midfield and that area is probably the Portuguese club’s weakness.

The defensive line has to be considered a strength along with depth in attack for Benfica. The pairing of Luisao and Victor Lindelof is a sneaky good duo that would rival many big clubs in the world. Alejandro Grimaldo, a young left back has been building his star power all season and big clubs are sure to be lineup up to sign him very soon.

Up front, the players to watch have to be Jonas and Mitroglou as well as reserve striker Raul Jimenez (who my US readers should recognize). I’m hearing Jonas might miss the match through injury as will emerging winger Anrija Zivkovic who is out through suspension.

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I’m hoping Borussia Dortmund play a conservative match in the first away leg against a formidable Benfica match. It is my opinion that BVB is at their best when playing on the counter and defending deeper. We have seen countless times when the high line defensively combined with disorganization has led to easy goals against. This can’t happen in the first leg, particularly because Borussia Dortmund have been poor playing away from home this season.

If they invite pressure and defend first like I would suggest, it would allow space to open for Pierre-Emerick Aubayemang, Marco Rues, and Ousmane Dembele on the counter (assuming they all play). Those three in transition are absolutely deadly, despite the recent struggles.

If BVB can play defensively and nick a goal on the counter it would set them up in a wonderful position going onto the home leg. This Benfica side can’t be underestimated, however, they are powerful. Many think that because they aren’t from a top league they can’t keep up, but that is simply not the case. A year ago, this Benfica side (albeit slightly changed with transfers) beat an Atletico Madrid side in the group stage, a Zenit St. Petersburg in the round of 16 and narrowly lost 3-2 on aggregate to Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals.

Expect a rough and tumble match tomorrow with some very cagey tactics.

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