Champions League: Arsenal v Borussia Dortmund match preview 

Arsenal look to extend their good run of form
tonight with a matchup against last year’s Champions League runners-up Borussia
Dortmund.

Since the start of the season in all competitions, Arsenal has won 11 of their 13 games, their only loss being against Aston Villa on the 1 September. Having beaten both Marseilles and Napoli in their Champions League campaign, the Gunners will strive to maintain their perfect record in the competition against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday, something that will put them in a strong position to win the group. This game is widely seen as the start of a tough stretch of fixtures for Arsene Wenger’s team over the next month, with opponents including Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester United and a repeat of their Champions league match-up tonight away from the Emirates. Despite losing to Napoli at the start of their European football campaign, Borussia Dortmund lie second in the German Bundesliga, just one point behind leaders Bayern Munich.
KICK-OFF: Tuesday, 7.45pm
PAST MEETINGS…
Arsenal 2 (Van Persie 2) B Dortmund 1 (Kagawa), Champions League, Group Stage, November 2011
B Dortmund 1 (Perisic) Arsenal 1 (Van Persie), Champions League, Group stage, September 2011
B Dortmund 2 (Silva, Rosicky) Aresnal 1 (Henry), Champions League, Group stage, October 2002
Arsenal 2 (Bergkamp, Ljungberg) B Dortmund 0, Champions League, Group stage, September 2002
STATS…
Arsenal's home record against German clubs is W9 D1 L3; overall it is W13 D5 L8.
The Gunners are in the group stage for the 16th season in a row.
Dortmund are in their ninth Champions League campaign. They were victorious in the 1997 edition and last season was their most successful campaign since then, remaining unbeaten until the semi-final second leg when they lost 2-0 at Real Madrid CF.
Ozil faced Dortmund four times for Real Madrid in last season's Champions League. In the group stage his 89th minute free-kick earned a 2-2 draw.
ODDS…
Arsenal to win: 2.3
B Dortmund to win: 3.2
Draw: 3.5
TV: Live on ITV at 7:45pm, highlights on ITV at 10:35pm

I turned down Chelsea and Manchester City, reveals Borussia Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp

I turned down Chelsea and Manchester City, reveals Borussia Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp 

Borussia Dortmund coach Jurgen Klopp has revealed that he turned down approaches from two Premier League clubs last season.

In an interview with The Sun , the 46-year-old admitted that he was sounded out by both Chelsea and Manchester City but turned them down to pursue what he considers to be the "most exciting project in European football" in Dortmund.

"There were some England clubs that called and wanted to speak with me," he said. "But there was no reason to talk.

"I'm sure you could earn much more money at an English club, or at a Chinese or Russian club. But it's not the most important thing.

"In life you have to be at the right place at the right moment. I am in Dortmund with all I have. Definitely for the next couple of years."

Klopp has been one of the most successful managers on the continent in recent years, guiding Dortmund to two Bundesliga titles and last season's Champions League final.

Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Hannover: Bundesliga Highlights [VIDEO]

Borussia Dortmund 1-0 Hannover: Bundesliga Highlights [VIDEO]

A Marco Reus penalty was enough to see Borussia Dortmund edge past Hannover.

 

Borussia Dortmund shortchanged in Bundesliga's team of the weekend

  Jürgen Klopp's men deserved more credit for what might have been the performance of their season in beating Hamburg 6-2

 

Borussia Dortmund's Marco Reus, centre, was praised by Jürgen Klopp for his part in the 6-2 win over Hamburger SV Photograph: Ina Fassbender/Reuters

Man-marking has generally died out in the Bundesliga, along with moustaches and mullets – at least the non-ironic ones. But in the confines of tabloid newspapers and the venerable Kicker magazine, the practice is still very much alive.

It might surprise the interested reader to find out that a sizable contingent of players in the German top flight continue to take a strong, verging-on-unhealthy, interest in the marks (1-6, in ascending order of nicht gut) awarded to them by reporters who spend, on average, 45-60 seconds on this exercise.

Politics are occasionally involved, of course – there used to be some players who could never be marked worse than a 4 – but the grades seem to matter because they are seen as real: unlike in other countries, the full spectrum, from 1 (very good) to 6 (lacking severely) is regularly applied. You want nuances? Half marks are allowed, too.

But those numbers are only part of the grading process. Equally, if not more prestigious, is a nomination for Kicker's "Elf des Tages" — the XI of the weekend. One big problem for the reporters is to come up with formations that vaguely resemble realistic line-ups in the face of too many outstanding attacking players. German editorial standards are stringent and uncompromising in that respect – you cannot play with two at the back, even if you are Pep Guardiola or Thomas Schaaf.

On Monday, however, the colleagues at Kicker got it badly wrong. There were five Borussia Dortmund players in the line-up. Five. It is a ludicrous number, so wrong that it verges on the offensive. It makes you wonder if stumbling upon it this morning forced Dortmund's CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke, a quiet, reserved man who shuns the limelight and hates giving interviews, to pick up the phone and demand satisfaction from the men in Nuremberg (where Kicker is based) in the strongest possible terms.

We do not know if he did get involved but he would have been right to: there should have been at least nine Dortmund players in the list. They were that good in the 6-2 win against Hamburger SV.

Granted, the centre-back Neven Subotic had a bit of nightmare and had to be substituted before the referee could send him off. In goal, Roman Weidenfeller lived through one of those uncomfortable evenings that most keepers will have experienced at some stage: hardly anything to save but the two Hamburg goals (Zhi Gin Lam's sensational corner-curler, Heiko Westermann's close-range header) were unstoppable.

Everybody else, however, had a good case for being included in the XI, since Dortmund did not just produce their best performance of the season but, quite possibly, the performance of the whole season. There was a moment in the second half, when one attacking move tore through the dozy Hamburg lines like a school of barracudas, that the Westfalenstadion seemed unable to contain its joy.

A few goals more, you feared, and the whole ground would have burst at the seams, spewing out bits of yellow like a popcorn machine in the cinema. "It's madness what the boys in attack played today, simply amazing," said Jürgen Klopp.

Marco Reus, he added, deserved "to get to heaven" for leaving the ball to Robert Lewandowski before Dortmund's fourth goal.

Going forward, everyone was sensational – special mentions for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (1-0, 3-2) and Henrikh Mkhitaryan (2-0) – but Reus was out of this world; a raft of missed chances notwithstanding. His incredibly cool shot through Dennis Diekmeier's legs (5-2) capped off a superlative show from the 24-year-old. "Our transition game was frightening," said Klopp and he was right, in more ways than one.

Dortmund have managed to integrate the new signings so well that they look like having been around for ever. The team's devilishly hard to learn – and even harder to stop – collective pressing and switching already works much better than anyone could have anticipated at this stage.

Five wins out of five have made this Borussia's best start to the league – 32 shots on goal equalled their own record versus Bremen this season. Aubameyang's superhuman pace – Bild counted 51 high-tempo sprints and clocked a maximum speed of 35.1 kilometres an hour – has turbo-charged the whole attack.

Wednesday's Champions League game at Napoli will show if this is shaping up for a customary all-or-nothing season under Klopp or if the team can reach the next evolutionary level and perform consistently in both main competitions for once.

Self-critical appraisals from Weidenfeller – "we lacked focus in some situations, you can't award your opponent too many chances" – and Reus –"it makes you vomit if you lead 2-0 and then concede two goals out of nothing"– certainly suggest a new maturity and Klopp cleverly made use of the opportunity to demand more respect for Mats Hummels – the centre-back had been left out by Jogi Löw in the two recent World Cup qualifiers and subjected to some harsh criticism in the press.

"When mistakes are awarded names, it's not unlikely that a Dortmund player is involved," claimed Klopp, who was careful not too attack Löw too overtly. "We will talk about it in the next few weeks," replied the Germany manager, in a conciliatory mood.

In case you were wondering, only the goalkeeper René Adler was awarded a half-decent (3) grade by Kicker. Lam was marked 4.5, the rest were 5s, 5.5s and downright 6s.

Thorsten Fink's risible tactics – the HSV coach started with three at the back, then changed it to a 4-4-2 with a diamond in midfield, before settling on 4-2-3-1 – were apparently not considered in the marking process. "The system wasn't too blame," insisted Fink. Impossible to say really, as there wasn't one.

Real Madrid vs Borussia Dortmund Memes (Funny PICS)

Borussia Dortmund has once again proved their status as the force to be reckoned with in European and domestic football by ruthlessly destroying Christiano Ronaldo’s Real Madrid in the Champions League semi-final first leg with scoreline 4-1.
Real Madrid has already lost once to Dortmund in the group stages but Mourinho blamed it to individual players.
Robert Lewandowski produced a striker’s masterclass as he scored all four goals, making him the first person to score a hat-trick against Real Madrid.
Here’s 8 funniest memes relating to the game:

Dortmund host clash of the titans as Hamburg come calling NEWS

Dortmund host clash of the titans as Hamburg come calling

Dortmund - Two leviathans of the German game, Borussia Dortmund and Hamburger SV, square up on Saturday evening in front of a sold out Signal Iduna Park, and a fanatical Yellow Wall. (18.30 CEST)

Both are avid to resume Bundesliga proceedings after a fortnight break for internationals. For Dortmund this fixture marks the start of an intense period involving seven games in 22 days, and for Hamburg it marks an opportunity to reassert the promise they showed in comfortably dispatching Eintracht Braunschweig.
Dortmund aiming to show maturity


In Jürgen Klopp's pre-match press conference on Thursday afternoon, he made it clear however, that his side "are not Braunschweig," adding: "Braunschweig are struggling. We're not." That is certainly true: the Yellow-Blacks have won all four games this season in impressive style, and they have the chance to become one of only twelve Bundesliga sides in history to make it five from five at the start of a season.

One ingredient required to maintain a strong Bundesliga charge is an ability to find the right balance, and the 46-year-old brushed off queries about his side struggling to find an equilibrium between Bundesliga, UEFA Champions League and DFB Cup fixtures. "We've come a long way since last year," he said. "We balance our commitments well now, but it's important to rebuild the momentum we had before the international break, which has slightly broken our rhythm."
International injury


Another potential disruption to that rhythm is an injury to Jakub Blaszczykowski, picked up while on international duty against San Marino. "It will be tight, we'll wait and see," said Klopp. Were 'Kuba' to miss out, a contender to replace him would be Jonas Hofmann, who has just signed a contract extension until 2018. On a more positive note, Klopp is boosted by the availability of the "very good" Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Nuri Sahin and Robert Lewandowski.

Looking beyond his own clan, Klopp said Hamburg's Rafael van der Vaart has made a "very good start", although he may not in fact need to find a remedy for his threat: the Dutchman and Marcell Jansen are both fighting to be fit. If the Hamburg captain does miss out, Hakan Calhanoglu will step into the breach, something which will undoubtedly not faze the youngster. Artjoms Rudnevs and Milan Badelj have both been ruled out of for a fixture which Hamburg won 4-1 last season, meanwhile.
Dortmund-shaped yardstick required


Fink admitted that last year's result "was in the back of our minds" but that this year, his side face "a huge challenge." He added: "We'll have to bite, fight and claw our way to three points. I'm looking forward to the game, it's always a fantastic atmosphere, and we want to be the first team to take points off Dortmund this season."

Doing that would certainly be a statement of intent from a Hamburg side becoming increasingly self-assured, and if that man van der Vaart is fit, then they can certainly harbour hope of history repeating itself - he's talismanic in games against Dortmund, having only ever lost to them once. Fink also pointed out that "Braunschweig isn't the yardstick by which we're measuring our season." For a hopeful Hamburg, it's games like these by which they should measure their campaign.

Possible line-ups:

Borussia Dortmund: Weidenfeller - Großkreutz, Subotic, Hummels, Schmelzer - Bender, Sahin - Aubameyang, Mkhitaryan, Reus - Lewandowski

Hamburger SV: Adler - Diekmeier, Djourou, Westermann, Lam - Rincon - Arslan, Jiracek - van der Vaart - Zoua, Beister

  

Augsburg vs Borussia Dortmund 0-4 full match 10-08-2013

Borussia Dortmund didn't put on a classic performance as they kicked off the season against FC Augsburg, but they didn't need to -- new signing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's hattrick was enough to secure a 4-0 win.

Borussia Dortmund struggled in their season opener, but earned all three points anyway thanks to the contributions of debutant Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. With his colleagues unable to break down FC Augsburg, the summer signing from St. Etienne made the difference, scoring a hat trick to power last season's runners-up to a 4-0 away win.

The first half began explosively, with Robert Lewandowski and Andre Hahn both grabbing chances in the first minute, but then the game settled down. It wasn't the pattern most would have been expecting, however -- much of the action was taking place in the visitors' half, with sloppy play the order of the day from Dortmund.
When the team as a whole is struggling, moments of magic can save the day, and that's exactly what happened in the 24th minute. Marcel Schmelzer went on an adventurous run up the left and sent in a wonderful, swerving cross. Lewandowski peeled away, removing Jan-Ingwer Callsen-Bracker from the equation and allowing Aubameyang to meet the delivery with a diving header. Mohamed Amsif had no chance, and BVB were 1-0 up.
That goal briefly seemed as though it would dispel Dortmund's hangover. They stormed forward in the 10 minutes following Aubameyang's strike, and they did so with some swagger -- Ilkay Gundogan's overhead kick attempt might have looked silly, but at least it wasn't lacking in ambition. When Marco Reus rounded Amsif and slipped the ball back to Kevin Grosskreutz, it looked as though the visitors were going to pull away for good.
Then the shot was saved -- Amsif did very well to stand tall -- and Augsburg recovered. The end of the first half saw Mitchell Langerak's goal under siege. Sven Bender had to come to the rescue after Callsen-Bracker had beaten the goalkeeper with a header back across goal from a corner kick, the midfielder nodding clear from under his own bar to prevent the equaliser. Seconds later, Raphael Holzhauser's swerving hit from range forced an impressive, acrobatic save. Finishing also cost the hosts; who would have gone into the break level had Jan Moravek been able to keep his volley from the edge of the box on the correct side of the post.
Dortmund -- save for Aubameyang, who was a threat throughout -- continued to struggle after the break, and eventually Jurgen Klopp opted to change things up, replacing the ineffective Gundogan with Jakub Blaszczykowski and moving Reus to the centre. But despite the change, it was the hosts who had the next big chance, with Sascha Molders beating Mats Hummels to a free kick only to flash his header over Langerak's crossbar.
Eventually, though, Klopp's substitution started to bear fruit. Amsif was forced into his first save of the half when he scrambled Reus' free kick out from under his crossbar, but the tide had turned, and Aubameyang killed off Augburg's resistance when he broke free and tucked a right-footed finish inside the far post to make it 2-0 with 66 minutes gone.
With a two-goal cushion, Dortmund were safe, and Aubameyang struck again to add some gloss to the scoreline as the game wound down. Lewandowski, anonymous for most of the afternoon, finally sprung to life with a glorious outside-of-the-boot through pass that split open the hosts' defence. Aubameyang raced onto the ball, rounded Amsif, and slotted home to secure victory.
There was time for another after Jonas Hoffman earned a penalty with a strong run on the left, Lewandowski lashing into the roof of the net after referee Knut Kircher pointed to the spot. The 4-0 scoreline flattered the visitors, but Dortmund deserved the win -- they had Aubameyang and Augsburg did not. Not a bad debut for the 24-year-old
FC Augsberg (4-1-4-1): Amsif; Ostrzolek, Klavan, Callsen-Bracker, Verhaegh; Baier; Holzhauser (Vlachodimos 77'), Moravek, Altintop (Philp 77'), Hahn (Vogt 84'); Molders.
Borussia Dortmund (4-2-3-1): Langerak; Schmelzer, Hummels, Subotic, Grosskruetz; Sahin, Bender; Reus, Gundogan (Blaszczykowski 57'), Aubameyang (Hofmann 81'); Lewandowski (Durm 88').

Goals: Aubameyang (24', 66', 79'), Lewandowski (86' p).

Watch Full Match.........

Borussia Dortmund 2012/2013 - "Where We're Going" | Dortmund Bremen 1-0

Borussia Dortmund 2012/2013 - "Where We're Going" | Dortmund Bremen 1-0

Watch The Video Below.....

1. Corey Grey - Where We're Going

2. M.I.K.I - Liebe des Lebens BvB

3. M.I.K.I - Auf dem Weg nach Berlin Teil 6

4. M.I.K.I - Königlich

5. Apologize - OneRepublic Piano Arrangement


Squad:
Roman Weidenfeller
Mitchell Langerak
latan Alomerovic
Neven Subotic
Mats Hummels
Felipe Santana
Koray Günter
Marcel Schmelzer
Marc Hornschuh
Patrick Owomoyela
Lukasz Piszczek
Oliver Kirch
Sebastian Kehl
Sven Bender
Nuri Sahin
Mustafa Amini
Moritz Leitner
Leonardo Bittencourt
Ilkay Gündogan
Jonas Hoffmann
Mario Götze
Balint Bajner
kevin Großkreutz
Jakuk "Kuba" Blazykowski
Robert Lewandowski
Julian Schieber
Champions League Final Wembley London
Borussia Dortmund FC Bayern München/ Munich
1-0 0-1 1-1 2-1 1-2 2-0 0-2 3-0 0-3 3-1 1-3 3-2 2-3 4-0 4-1 1-4 0-4 4-2 2-4 4-3 3-4 5-1 5-0 0-5 1-5 5-2 5-3 5-4 2-5 3-5 4-5
Highlights Goals Celebration
2 1

BVB duo eye improvement

Borussia Dortmund duo Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Neven Subotic were less than satisfied following a 2-1 win at Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.

Both of Dortmund's goals came courtesy of recent €27.5 million signing Mkhitaryan, and the win means that they are the only team that has won all of their Bundesliga games this season.
But while the campaign's first four games have netted an impressive 12 points for the BVB, the duo in question felt the team's performance on Sunday left a lot to be desired.
After the game, the Armenia international Mkhitaryan told the club's official site: "I feel good in Dortmund and I'm happy with the goals, but I think we need to be much better."
Defender Neven Subotic agreed, saying: "It was anything but a perfect game. We struggled at the beginning, but we also created chances in some very good phases of play and fortunately also found the net."
The centre-back added: "We didn't enjoy a lot of possession, lacked a bit of creativity, didn't win many tackles and gave them some chances.
"So it was a lucky win for us and we had to work very hard for it."
With fellow Champions League finalists Bayern Munich stumbling to a draw against Freiburg last Tuesday, the Black and Yellows will go into the September break at the top of the table, two points clear of the Bavarians.

Borussia Dortmund vs Eintracht Braunschweig - 1. Bundesliga «» FIFA 13 ORAKEL 2013 / 2014 Game Play (VIDEO)

Watch Supercup - Borussia Dortmund versus Schalke Full Game 2:17:44 Hours

Watch Supercup - Borussia Dortmund versus Schalke Full Game 2:17:44 Hours