Borussia Dortmund face a battle to overturn a 3-2 deficit when they travel to Monaco for the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final on Wednesday.
After the German side’s team bus was the victim of an attack that left defender Marc Bartra in hospital; the first game between these two sides was held theAnext day at the Westfalenstadion. And it was Monaco who were the superior outfit on the night; with 18-year-old sensation Kylian Mbappe netting twice in a crucial away win.
Thomas Tuchel’s men will be confident of turning in a much better performance a week after the attack.AThe visitors will need to bring their best attacking play if they’re going to recover the deficit; with Tuchel set to look to top scorer Aubameyang and creator-in-chief Dembele.
Reus’ return to the XI could prove to be most significant, though.AThe German international has been dogged by injuries again this term; but looked sharp when he netted against Frankfurt at the weekend.
Obviously, the trouble for Dortmund when employing such a front-foot approach will be keeping out the hosts; who are so potent in their attacking play.
Falcao’s movement was too clever at times, facilitating space for the effervescent Mbappe. With the freedom afforded to him, the youngster was almost unstoppable; winning a penalty and scoring twice to give Monaco a big advantage.
The Bundesliga side have the players to pull this off, and if they did net an early goal; it’d be a big test of the mentality of this young Monaco side. However, the visitors have too much firepower at their disposal to let their first-leg advantage slip.
Team News
AS Monaco
Leonardo Jardim will be able to welcome back Tiemoue Bakayoko from suspension for this one; although in a massive blow for Monaco, Fabinho will sit out the match after his yellow card in Dortmund. Benjamin Mendy will be backAat left-back position.
Borussia Dortmund
Bartra will be out for four weeks as he recovers from his wrist injury.AThe Spaniard is a big miss for Dortmund, who are not blessed with a huge amount of top quality defenders.
Probable Lineups:
MonacoA-ADanijel Subasic (GK); Djibril Sidibe, Kamil Glik, Jemerson, Benjamin Mendy; Bernardo Silva, Joao Moutinho, Tiemoue Bakayoko, Thomas Lemar; Kylian Mbappe, Radamel Falcao.
Dortmund -ARoman Burki (GK); Lukasz Piszczek, Sven Bender, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Marcel Schmelzer; Julian Weigl, Gonzalo Castro; Ousmane Dembele, Shinji Kagawa, Marco Reus; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
