AS Monaco – Borussia Dortmund (Champions League)
AS Monaco and Borussia Dortmund meet this Wednesday, 19th April/07.45pm, at Louis II Stadium (Monaco), in a 2nd leg match for the UEFA Champions League (Quarter‑finals) 2016/17. AS Monaco come to this second match in advantage (1 goal) after the (2‑3) away win in the 1st leg. In this 1st leg, and despite Borussia being in possession of the ball and having dominated the match from start to finish, it was surprised by Monaco, who took advantage of the failures of the German team. To make it through to the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time since 2004, Monaco may even lose 1-0 in this 2nd leg match.
Making good use of the home advantage, the team, so far, won five of their six home matches for this competition. Their offense have been working in a desired way, since they have scored 10 goals at home. The team began to win at home after beating Fenerbahce (3-1) and Villarreal (1-0); drew 1-1 against Bayer Leverkusen, win over CSKA Moscow (3-0), Tottenham (2-1) and Manchester City (3-1). An important fact is that Monaco arrive for this decisive match with four successive victories, namely two for Ligue 1, one for the French Cup, where they advanced to the semi-finals and also a Champions League victory against Borussia Dortmund as already mentioned. The team, besides coming from two victories (Ligue 1 and French Cup), have lost just once in the last 12 matches at home: they won all the other eleven.
Probable Lineup: Subašić – Tpuré, Jemerson, Glik and Mendy – Moutinho, Bakayoko, Lemar and Bernardo Silva – Mbappé and Falcao.
Borussia Dortmund arrive to this match at a disadvantage after the 2-3 loss in the 1st leg match. The German team dominated the match, but the fact is that they didn’t succeed and were defeated by the well organized Monaco. After this defeat and in addition to playing away from home, Borussia Dortmund will have to win and score. As they know, their opponent will have the home advantage and can even lose 1-0 to advance in the competition.
Away from home, Borussia Dortmund so far played for the Champions League a total of four match: 2 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss. They win against Legia Warszawa (0-6) and also against Sporting (1-2), drew against Real Madrid (2-2) and their only defeat was against Benfica (1-0).
After back-to-back defeat against Bayern Munich (4-1) and AS Monaco (2-3) as we already mentioned, Borussia returned to the path of victories after winning at home against Eintracht Frankfut (3-1). Their offense have been working in a desired way, since they have 42 goals scored and 13 conceded in the last 15 home matches. Also they have four wins in their last 10 away matches.
Probable Lineup: Bürki – Piszczek, Sokratis, Ginter and Schmelzer – Weigl – Castro, Dembélé, Pulisic and Reus – Aubameyang.
In this second leg, it’s important to note that although both teams have an offensive DNA, Monaco are Making good use of the home advantage. At home they suffered only two losses in their last 27 matches for several competitions. Borussia Dortmund, out of the UEFA Champions League, have won only two matches in four, and if we look at their overall performance, the German team has won only two of their last eight matches. In this way opting for the Asian handicap in favor of the home team should be a good option.
