2014 - when BVB played RSC Anderlecht, it was the very first time in the club's history that they had made it to the next round in Europe when faced with a Belgian team.

BVB's first ever clash with a Belgian team got off to an almost perfect start. With a 3-0 win in the first leg of the 1987/88 UEFA Cup third round tie against FC Brugge, it seemed certain that BVB were comfortably over the halfway line. Yet the seemingly secure three goal cushion was soon to disappear, with Leo van der Elst hammering home a penalty in the 83rd minute of the second leg to bring the score to 3-0 and level the tie. In extra-time, Van der Elst got his third and fourth goals of the match to almost single-handedly knock the Black and Yellows out of the competition. It was to be one of the few occasions that Leo van der Elst was able to outshine his more illustrious older brother Franky, who won 86 caps for Belgium.

Let's go back to the start.

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Second leg action 15 years ago: Butina denies Amoroso

A year previously, on Whit Monday 1986, BVB had got themselves out of a very tight spot with a last minute 3-1 victory over Fortuna Köln in the second leg of their relegation play-off tie. This kept their hopes of survival alive and secured a place in the decisive play-off final, which they went on to win 8-0 in Düsseldorf's Rheinstadion. After the summer, the team which had finished 16th the season before won match after match in the league, with the deadly duo of Frank Mill and Norbert Dickel firing them into the UEFA Cup.

In the first two rounds, BVB had little problem overcoming Celtic (2-1) and Velez Mostar (2-0), and when they were drawn with FC Brugge, it seemed that the Belgian side would pose little in the way of an obstacle to BVB's aspirations of European glory. On a rainy 25 November, Borussia treated a sold out Westfaldenstadion to an outstanding first leg performance, despite the absence of midfield stars Michael Zorc and Marcel Raducanu. The first time the 52,000 fans were out of their seats was in the 13th minute, when defensive player Gerhard Kleppinger was bundled to the ground in the opposition half. Everyone seemed to pause for a free-kick, but the ever wily Frank Mill was the quickest to read the situation. The only one to realise that the Romanian referee Ioan Igna had allowed play to continue, Mill found himself with a free run on goal and was able to fire past the defenseless goalkeeper Jensen.

In the 64th minute, Mill headed in a free-kick delivery from Frank Pagelsdorf to bring the score to 2-0, and 13 minutes from the end Ingo Anderbrügge pounced on a calamitous mistake from Tew Mamadou, at fault for all three Dortmund goals, to wrap up the match and seemingly the tie as well.

Yet there was still a second leg to be played.

Rosenthal was causing all kinds of chaos on the right side of the Dortmund defense, and after ten minutes he delivered a cross which was headed in by Jan Ceulemans. On this freezing cold December night, the BVB defence had constant problems dealing with opposition corners. Shortly after half time, this would prove their undoing, with Leo van der Elst firing home in the 48th minute to make it 2-0. The icy playing surface meant that the Borussia players had trouble staying on their feet. There was confusion when Welsh referee Bridges ruled out what had seemed like a legitimate goal to put the Belgians level at 3-0, and eight minutes before the final whistle, he was again at the centre of attention when, much to the incredulity of the Dortmund players, he awarded a penalty to the Belgians. An incorrect decision if ever there was one! This early Christmas present was fired home by Leo van der Else, which meant extra-time was the only way to separate the two teams.

Borussia were still reeling from the late and unjust setback and were unable to pick themselves up again in the extra period. BVB goalkeeper Teddy de Beer prevented a fourth Brugge goal with a spectacular save, but van der Elst scored from the resulting corner to bring the score to 4-0 in the 100th minute. Eight minutes later, he scored another penalty - this one legitimate - to wrap up the game.

Defensive battle against Anderlecht

Three years later, BVB once again faced a Belgian side in the last 16 of the UEFA Cup, RSC Anderlecht the opponents this time round. In a defensive battle, a superb peformance from de Beer was enough to keep Anderlecht at bay and the score at 0-0, but in the 75th minute his guard was breached, with Marc van der Linden finding space to score the only goal of the evening.

The playing surface at the Westfaldenstadion on the evening of 12 December 1990 was somewhat ''agricultural.'' The northernmost half was covered in snow, whilst the southern side was marshy. It was therefore perfectly understandable that Peter Quallos misplaced a crucial pass when trying to get the build-up play going. His fateful mistake presented the Belgians with a golden counter-attacking opportunity. Degryse played a cross directly into the danger area, where Alain van Baekel lay in wait. He had to readjust his position to attack the ball played just behind him. His diving header rolled along the sodden goalmouth, looking like it didn't have the momentum to make it through the mud, but it just managed to make its way over the line before de Beer could get his long arm to it in vain.

So it was that Anderlecht lead in the 35th minute. With the away goals rule in place, BVB would need three goals to make it through to the quarter finals. Hope emerged in the 49th minute when Sergej Gorlukowitsch volleyed home from a poorly cleared corner to make it 1-1. Borussia were throwing everything at it. After an exchange of passes with Thomas Helmer, Michael Lusch played an inch perfect ball into the box which met the head of the onrushing Michael Schulz to give BVB a 2-1 lead.

There were now 12 minutes left for Borussia to grab the third goal they so desperately needed, but Anderlecht goalkeeper Filip de Wilde held firm to deny the black and yellow assault. Borussia's European journey had come to an end.

Off to Bruges again

13 years went by before there was another German-Belgian duel. A 1-1 draw against Energie Cottbus on the final day of the 2002/03 season meant that title holders Borussia Dortmund slipped out of 2nd place, meaning they had blown their shot at direct qualification for the UEFA Champions League. For the third time in recent years (1999, FK Teplice) and (2001, Shakthar Donetsk) BVB would have to navigate the qualifying round. They would soon find out that not all good things come in threes...

Despite all that was at stake, the team which faced FC Brugge in the first leg on 13 August 2003, with Roman Weidenfeller in goal, were entirely aimless and lacking in inspiration. The Belgian champions, known as ''Blauw en Zwart'' (blue and black) due to their club colours, were successful in sucking the life out of Borussia's football in the first 45 minutes. ''The way the game went really got me thinking: you'll never make it in the Champions League with this kind of approach,'' said the manager at the time Michael Meier. ''We failed because we tried to be too pretty,'' said Christian Wörns, adding that: ''We were lacking any sense of ambition and urgency, we were quicker to lose the ball than we were to win it back, our transition play was a shambles, we were constantly outnumbered at the back.'' Coach Matthias Sammer could only watch on helplessly from the sidelines as ''the opposition were basically invited to attack us high up the pitch at pace. Above all in the first half Brugge really punished us for our naive approach to the game.''

A catalogue of errors lead to the first goal in the 33rd minute. It all started when André Bergdölmos lost the ball to Verheyen. Thomas Rosicky was then unable to prevent left wing back van der Heyden from playing the ball into the box, where Sebastian Kehl's opposite number, Nastja Ceh, found himself in acres of space to find the back of the net. Even this setback didn't serve as a wake-up call for a Borussia side who were all at sea, and things would go from bad to worse before they made it to the dressing room. Once more van der Heyden was able to swing the ball in from the left, Mendoza touched it onwards to Gert Veryehen, again with far too much space, who finished with precision from 12 metres out.

Sammer reacted, taking Bergdölmo off and adjusting the formation: Dede slotted in to left back (impressing with his huge work rate), substitute Otto Addo took up the newly opened right attacking midfield position, while Rosicky went just behind the strikers. Conceicao and Kehl (no longer marking Ceh) shored things up from the back. With the new set-up, Borussia forced their way back into the game: in the 52nd minute Jan Koller had a pop from distance, Verlinden couldn't keep a hold of the ball and Marcio Amoroso was there to fire in the rebound and bring the score to 2-1.

Weidenfeller's saves in the second leg

Brugge were losing their way, no longer playing with the same dynamism and sense of focus. Addo had a golden chance to tie things up after a brilliant solo run but he fired just left of the target in the 62nd minute. ''I'm glad it didn't go in. 2-2 would have been a joke. This way we'll go into the second leg full of concentration,'' said Christian Wörns...

''Score, don't conceed,'' is how Koller summed up the task at hand for the showdown at Westfaldenstadion on 27 August 2003. What followed was a match of ''12 against 12''. Borussia had the support of 62,000 fans, Brugge often had the referee Riley on their side. Mendoza, who had already been booked, surely ought to have been sent off for a foul on Rosicky, while Brugge's goal for 1-1 should never have stood. A clumsy challenge from Ahmed Madounis on Verheyen was correctly judged a free-kick, but what followed was scandalous: Verheyen forced his way into the Dortmund wall with brute force, creating a gap for Mendoza to rifle the ball in from 18 metres out. This cancelled out Marcio Amoroso's fortuitous opening goal in the 2nd minute.

The home crowd's nerves were torn to shreds. The club president at the time, Dr. Gerd Niebaum, sat sullen in his seat - but there was still some time left to celebrate: Fernandez, who had only been on the pitch for a few seconds, crossed the ball to fellow substitute Ewerthon, who headed it in in the 86th to make it 2-1. Dortmund were the team playing all the football in this unbelievable closing phase of the match, and Koller only just missed a chance to make it 3-1.

Ewerthon misses Amoroso's delivery

Ewerthon could have been the hero of the day, if only he'd been able to convert a 114th minute ball in from Addo. Instead the Brasilian swung in vain and missed the ball. It was the kind of chance he would have taken 99 times out of 100, but it's often in games like these that the one miss occurs. Amoroso also had his chances to score the decisive third goal, but his 96th minute effort was deflected for a corner, while a 106th minute shot went just wide of the mark. To make matters worse, the referee Riley failed to spot a handball in the box by de Cock.

So it was that it all came down to the last means of separating two teams: the penalty shoot-out. Butina kept out Amoroso and Bergdölmo's efforts, all of Brugge's spot kicks found the back of the net. At 23.11, Borussia Dortmund were out. Four months later, news of huge debts was made public, with the very existence of the club seemingly under threat.

New president Dr. Reinhard Rauball and new chief executive Hans-Joachim Watzke were ultimately able to secure the club's economic survival, but a little bit of extra income certainly would have made things that bit easier. A year later, in July 2004, a Belgian club would once more prevent BVB from reaching their objectives. BVB had hoped to sneak in the UEFA Cup through the back door via the Intertoto Cup, but KRC Genk stood in their way.

An Intertoto Cup encounter with KRC Genk

Ewerthon's effort from a Lars Ricken corner was blocked on the line by Chatelle in the 40th minute, but two minutes later David Odonkor scored with a majestic lob from 25 metres out to give BVB a 1-0 lead. It all came from some sharp play from Sahr Senesie, who after a neat turn played the ball forward into space. Yet Dortmund still had to make it through some nervy moments. After Sebastian Kehl fouled Besilja in the box, it was up to BVB goalkeeper Guillaume Warmuz to save the day. He managed to get a hand to Kpaka's effort from 12 yards out, sending it wide of the left hand post. At long last, BVB had won a match in Belgium!

However, Igor de Camargo (who would go on to play for Gladbach) scored twice in the second leg. When Dede scored for BVB to make it 1-1 and cancel out Camargo's opener, it seemed that Borussia were on their way to the next round, but the Belgian popped up once more in the 86th minute to make it 2-1...

BVB get the better of Anderlecht

In the 2014/15 UEFA Champions League, BVB were drawn in the same group as RSC Anderlecht. Everything went according to plan from Dortmund's perspective in the first match. Borussia's pressing system was in full effect, forcing the Belgians into mistakes from the very start and overrunning them completely at times. After Bender won the ball, Kagawa played a sumptuous weighted ball over the opposition's defence and onto the run of Immobile, who scored with his third touch of the ball in just the 3rd minute of the match.

Taking an early lead played into BVB's hands. Aubameyang had a chance to make it 2-0 ten minutes later, but fired the ball into the side netting instead of the open goal in front of him. The attack had been initiated by Kagawa and Großkreutz. Again it was the man from Gabon who missed a chance in the 18th minute, firing straight at the Anderlecht goalkeeper. A 2-0 lead for Borussia at this stage would have been nothing less than deserved, although it must be said that Anderlecht were by no means playing badly.  

Substitute Ramos scored twice (69, 79.) to wrap up a 3-0 win, but it wasn't only the offensive side of the game (18:7 shot ratio) in which BVB impressed. ''We didn't defend perfectly, but there was real passion there,'' said Jürgen Klopp. ''With bad luck in a couple of situations there it could have been a bit tight,'' said Mats Hummels in reference to the goal the Belgians scored earlier on, ruled out for offside, as well as Mitrovic's shot off the post in the 75th minute. 

1-1 enough for first place

In the second match a 1-1 draw was enough to secure first place. After a restrained first half which saw three chances for BVB and two golden opportunities for the visitors, a much changed BVB side really took things up a level in the first 25 minutes of the second half. A good piece of play from Ciro Immobile, who dummied a shot and played in the onrushing Deschacht, saw them take the lead, but despite some fantastic play they couldn't quite find the second goal. Henrikh Mkhitaryan, although playing exceptionally well across the park, was left pulling his hair out as he wasn't quite able to find the finishing touch.

After a long year of football, ''some of the energy was gone by the end,'' said Klopp. Perhaps this was the explanation behind the ultimately meaningless goal conceded near the end. ''We came first in the group and so achieved our ultimate goal. All good!'' said the coach.

Boris Rupert