Over 53 years have passed since Borussia Dortmund and Benfica squared off in the last 16 of the European Cup, but the two teams are finally set to meet again next year – this time in the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League.

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In 1963 BVB suffered a 2-1 defeat in the Portuguese capital before bouncing back with a 5-0 victory in the return leg on an icy-cold evening December evening. Goals from Konietzka (34), Brungs (35, 36, 47) and Wosab (59) saw the Black and Yellows through on aggregate on one of the most magical European nights in the club's history.

At that time Benfica, inspired by Eusebio, were one of the continent's stand-out teams, having won the European Cup in 1961 and 1962. "In the first match we got off lightly because our goalkeeper Hans Tilkowski made some outstanding saves. Nobody gave us a hope in hell for the return leg," said hat-trick hero Franz Brungs as he recalled a night on which BVB scored three times in as many minutes.

"It was one goal after another, the fans were in a state of permanent celebration," he continued. Borussia followed up their success over the Portuguese giants with another triumph in the next round, beating Dukla Prague 5-3 on aggregate to reach the last four, where they suffered a 4-2 aggregate loss at the hands of Inter Milan.

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Now it's time for another last 16 tie – and another meeting with Benfica, who won the Primeira Liga last year and are leading the way again this season on 32 points, four ahead of FC Porto and five ahead of Sporting. Their most recent result was a 2-1 win over BVB's group-stage opponents Sporting thanks to goals from Salvio and Raul Jimenez.

"Benfica are one of the big names in international football and are clearly Portugual's best team. But we have a good chance of going through," said Hans-Joachim Watzke after the draw.

In the UEFA Champions League group stages Benfica came up against Besiktas (1-1 draw at home, 3-3 draw away), Napoli (2-1 defeat at home, 4-2 defeat away) and Dynamo Kiev (1-0 win at home, 2-0 win away), finishing as runners-up with only one home win to their name.

Six things you need to know about Benfica

The stadium: The Portuguese club play in the "Estádio da Luz" (the Stadium of Light), which has a capacity of 65,647. The arena, which is located next to its eponymous predecessor, was built for EURO 2004.

The coach: Rui Vitória is still a relatively unknown quantity. The 46-year-old took the Benfica job in the summer of 2015, having previously coached the Sporting youth side and Vitória Guimarães, whom he steered to a Portuguese Cup triumph in 2013, beating Benfica in the final.

The star – is the team, which is brimming with Portugual internationals, though none of them featured in the EURO 2016 final. One of the best-known players is defender Luisao. The 35-year-old, who has been capped 44 times for Brazil, has been at Benfica since 2003. Mexican forward Raul Jimenez, who previously played for Atlético Madrid, will be another name familiar to football aficionados, while frontman Greek Konstantinos Mitroglu (previously of Fulham) is no stranger either.

The European Cup: Benfica became European Cup winners in 1961 and 1962 but then coach Béla Guttmann left in acrimonious circumstances and is said to have placed a curse on the club, declaring: "Not in a hundred years from now will Benfica ever be European champions." Since then they have lost five European Cup finals (1963, 1965, 1968, 1988 and 1990), one UEFA Cup final (1983) and two Europa League finals (2013 and 2014).

The domestic title: Benfica are 35-time Portuguese champions, most recently in 2014, 2015 and 2016. In 2014 they won the Cup too.

The badge: The badge features an eagle perched on a shield, which is in the club's colours of red and white. The Eagle is also the Benfica mascot. In the centre of the badge is a football with a blue strip stretching diagonally across it that displays the club's abbreviated name of "SLB". Directly underneath the eagle is a caption that reads "E pluribus unum" ("Out of many, one"), displayed on a banner in the red and green of Portugal.
Georg Heymann