Borussia Dortmund's clash at the Wojska Polskiego in Warsaw on Wednesday evening marks the club's return to the UEFA Champions League stage following a one-year absence. It will be BVB's 11th campaign in Europe's elite club competition in total, and their fifth since 2011.

Almost bang on schedule at 11:33 CET, the "Team Airbus" of the club's Champion Partner Eurowings headed to the runway. The plane carrying Borussia Dortmund's first-team and U19 squad is expected to land at Warsaw Chopin airport 90 minutes later. The U19s will face their Legia Warsaw counterparts in the UEFA Youth League at 16:00 CET on Wednesday. 

The main focus of the trip is naturally on the first-team, whose final training session will take place at the Wojska Polskiego at 18:30 CET tonight. The international press conference (available at BVB total! on a delayed stream at around 21:00 CET) will take place beforehand.

On board the "Team Airbus" are 21 players, including three goalkeepers. Shinji Kagawa, who missed the recent outing in Leipzig, is also in the squad, but Park, Subotic, Bender, Sahin, Reus, Merino and Durm are not.

"In international matches there are no favourites. Everyone has deservedly qualified," said Julian Weigl in the run-up to the game, before adding: "It is important that we play our game and pick up the three points if we can."
Boris Rupert