Financially superior, but beatable in sport - Chelsea FC, which has been strengthened with crazy investments, is currently spreading little fear at Borussia Dortmund.
Six competitive wins in a row reduce the reverence for the European heavyweight, who has been upgraded this season for around 600 million euros, in the Bundesliga third party. "Of course we respect them, but we're anything but afraid. We don't see ourselves as the underdog in this duel," said national player Niklas Süle before the round of 16 first leg in the Champions League on Wednesday (9 p.m. / DAZN) .
The bold tone from Dortmund has not only to do with their own flight. After all, the Champions League winner of 2012 and 2021, who has slipped to tenth place in the Premier League, has been looking for the form of the past few days for months. Even the winter transfer offensive, which was admired by experts and cost more than 300 million euros, has not yet caused a turnaround.
However, the big European stage now offers the English the chance to polish up their recently scratched image. "They bought a lot of quality and good players in the winter. We have to be extremely careful," warned BVB sporting director Sebastian Kehl.
BVB coach puzzles about Chelsea line-up
Coach Edin Terzic agrees. The Chelsea squad, which has changed significantly as a result of the recent shopping spree, makes preparation more difficult for the 40-year-old - and not just because of the quality of the players. "It's not easy to analyze the whole thing," said Terzic. "They lost key players, they brought in key players." It is difficult to predict with which line-up the Londoners will compete.
Among others, Chelsea signed the exceptional Ukrainian talent Mychajlo Mudryk and the Argentinian world champion Enzo Fernández for a total of almost 200 million euros. German national striker Kai Havertz has been there for a long time but is no less dangerous. The former Leverkusen player is Chelsea's top scorer in the league with five goals.
BVB enters with a broad chest
Despite all the respect for their opponents, Terzic and Kehl also go into the game against the Londoners with great confidence, who had prevailed in Group E thanks to a strong final spurt against AC Milan, Salzburg and Zagreb. "I can feel that the boys not only believe in moving into the next round, but also work hard," said Terzic, who spoke of "great anticipation". And Kehl said: "It's a game that has a probability of 50 percent. It's going to be tight, but we can do it."
The 43-year-old referred to the excellent record of Borussia, who were still undefeated in the new year. Unlike before, he doesn't have to answer any questions about the lack of mentality in the team at the moment. "We have shown in the past few games that we have made significant progress and that we can be counted on. The team exudes positive conviction even in the critical phases of a game," said the former BVB captain. "It's a facet we've been waiting for for a while."
There will probably be such critical phases against Chelsea as well. "We are sure that it will not be decided tomorrow, but that there will be two close games," said Terzic on Tuesday. In the showdown with the "Blues" he can fall back on almost all of his players. Youssoufa Moukoko is injured, but Marius Wolf and Karim Adeyemi are back in the squad.
The expected lineups:
Borussia Dortmund: Kobel - Ryerson, Süle, Schlotterbeck, Guerreiro - Can - Brandt, Bellingham, Reus, Ademeyi - Haller
FC Chelsea: Kepa - James, Azpilicueta, Thiago Silva, Chilwell - Fernandez, Kovacic - João Felix, Mount, Mudryk - Havertz
Referee: Manzano (Spain)
