![[Subscription Customers Only] Jun 17, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Borussia Dortmund coach Niko Kovac before the match during a group stage match of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeenah Moon-Reuters via Imagn Images](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,x_0,y_304,w_4506,h_2534/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/395/01kgsrnjpxfv8x2v2qg0.jpg "[Subscription Customers Only] Jun 17, 2025; East Rutherford, New Jersey, USA; Borussia Dortmund coach Niko Kovac before the match during a group stage match of the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup at MetLife Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeenah Moon-Reuters via Imagn Images")
Borussia Dortmund are taking Champions League seriously. With the knockout playoffs against Atalanta coming up later this month, the Bundesliga giants have added two more players to their roster for the competition.
The club has announced that they have added Salih Ozcan (28) and Samuele Inacio (17) to their Champions League squad. This comes after Aaron Anselmino and Pascal Gross' departure during the winter transfer window.
Niko Kovac's side were looking to fill up the gaps left by their transfers and appear to have pulled it off, which may also help the Croatian manager tactically in key games. For example, Ozcan is a defensive midfielder. His inclusion gives Kovac the option of going for a more defensive close in games where they are leading in the dying embers.
Although Dortmund are packed to rhe rafters with talented midfielders, namely Felix Nmecha, Jobe Bellingham, Marcel Sabitzer and Carney Chukwuemeka - none of them are traditionally defensive midfielders per se.
Morever, Anselmino's departure to Chelsea means Emre Can could be forced to take a more defensive role in the centre-back position, although his propensity to drive forward and add an additional layer to their attack means he could still be given the license to roam forward whenever an opportunity shows up.
Dortmund face Atalanta for a place in the last-16
Borussia Dortmund endured a poor finish their league phase of the 2025-26 UEFA Champions League campaign, losing to Tottenham Hotspur and Inter Milan in a pair of 2-0 defeats in their last two matches.
It saw them acquire a lowly 17th place in the final standings with a meager 11 points from eight games despite boasting one of the most stellar attacking lineups which scored 19 goals - a figure bettered by only six teams out of 36 in the competition.
According to the new format, the side went into the knockout playoffs and were drawn against Serie A giants Atalanta, who finished just two places above Dortmund after accruing just two points more than them.
It marks their first encounter in the Champions League, but have played each other before: in the 2017-18 season of the Europa League, the sides clashed in the round of 32 where Dortmund prevailed 4-3 on aggregate.
Der BVB won the first leg 3-2 at home before the sides played out a 1-1 draw in Bergamo as Peter Stoger's side advanced into the last-16. Dortmund can expect another tough match up here against an in-form La Dea, who beat Chelsea in the first round and most recently crushed Juventus 3-0 in the quarter-finals of the 2025-26 Coppa Italia.