Sevilla will be looking to record their first win in the Champions League this season when they host Borussia Dortmund in Group G on Wednesday.
The visitors, meanwhile, have won one and lost one game in Europe so far, after falling to their former star striker Erling Braut Haaland’s late winner at the Etihad Stadium last time out.
For Sevilla, who have finished fourth three seasons running in La Liga under former Spain boss Julen Lopetegui, it has been an incredibly disappointing start to the season.
Saturday’s 2-0 defeat at home to Atletico Madrid left them in 17th position in La Liga, having only won one of their seven league games so far this campaign.
Despite dominating possession with 61% of the ball, Lopetegui’s side never looked particularly likely to break Atletico’s defensive wall down, with goals from Marcos Llorente and Alvaro Morata either side of half time handing their team an important victory.
Having failed to beat Copenhagen away from home in a dour 0-0 draw before the international break, there is significant pressure on Sevilla to beat Dortmund on Wednesday, otherwise they are going to have an uphill task to progress from Group G.
However, based on current form, dropping down to the Europa League may not be the worst thing in the world for them this season, especially having won Europe’s secondary competition in this manner as one of their record six-time triumphs in the competition in 2015-16.
Dortmund, meanwhile, suffered a 3-2 defeat to FC Koln in the Bundesliga at the weekend, falling behind Bayern Munich in the table ahead of their clash at the Westfalenstadion this weekend.
However, Edin Terzic’s side’s attention must quickly return to the Champions League, where they will realistically be hoping to snatch second spot in Group G behind current leaders Manchester City.
BVB were incredibly unfortunate to lose to the Citizens in their last European match, with Jude Bellingham’s 56th-minute header providing them with a surprise lead to hold onto.
They looked comfortable in doing so, too, with Man City failing to have a single shot on target until John Stones’s crashing effort from distance brought his side level in the match, with deputy goalkeeper Alexander Meyer seemingly taken by surprise by the England defender electing to shoot.
The script was written for Haaland to make his mark against his former club and – as ever – the Norwegian striker did not fail to deliver, as he acrobatically met Joao Cancelo’s superb cross to volley Man City into the lead and claim a precious three points for his new team.
Having comfortably swatted Copenhagen aside on matchday one, Dortmund will still be on course to qualify from Group G as long as they can avoid defeat in Seville in midweek.
Sevilla Champions League form:
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Sevilla form (all competitions):
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Borussia Dortmund Champions League form:
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Borussia Dortmund form (all competitions):
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We say: Sevilla 1-1 Borussia Dortmund
Given the amount of players that Dortmund are likely to have unavailable for this fixture – and the importance of Der Klassiker at the weekend – we can envisage the visitors being extremely content to leave Seville with a point on Wednesday.
Sevilla have started the season in terrible form and may not be massively disappointed with avoiding defeat either, so we can envisage a share of the spoils in midweek.