A draw would see Borussia Dortmund win their head-to-head battle with Sporting Lisbon, while a victory would allow them to wrap up qualification for the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League. "We want to build on the away victory, if possible by winning at home. But we know how difficult it was to get that victory in the first match," said Thomas Tuchel.

"It will be a very intense and difficult match," added Gonzalo Castro. "We saw in the first game that Sporting have a lot of quality going forward with Bas Dost and their quick players on the flanks. We can take nothing for granted!"

At the press conference on Tuesday evening, both Gonzalo Castro and Thomas Tuchel were asked the – rather surprising – question of whether the team might be taking the UEFA Champions League, in which they have taken seven points from a possible nine (78%), more seriously than the Bundesliga (16 points from a possible 27, 59%). "We might not have got the results we wanted in our recent league matches, but I don't believe that my team could be prioritising competitions. And I haven't seen any difference between the matches in terms of intensity," answered the coach, whose view was reiterated by Castro: "The Bundesliga is the main competition. We qualified for the Champions League on the basis of a good season in the Bundesliga."

Tuchel attributes the difference between the good results in the Champions League (6-0 in Warsaw, 2-2 against Real Madrid and 2-1 in Lisbon) and the dip in form in the league following a good start (four wins from the first five games but just three points from the last four games) to getting a little bit of luck, as was certainly the case in the first match in Lisbon, and the lack of precision in the interplay of the team, which has consistently lined up with different players in recent weeks due to injury problems. "We have clearly struggled to create chances on goal," the coach explained.

Kagawa the latest absentee, question marks surrounding Piszczek's involvement

The return of André Schürrle, Raphael Guerreiro and Gonzalo Castro will provide the Black and Yellows with added creativity and determination going forward, even if they don't all make the starting XI. Conversely, there could be two new absentees on Wednesday: Shinji Kagawa sustained a bruised ankle in the derby and will probably have to watch from the stands, while Lukasz Piszczek is suffering from a stomach complaint. "We're hoping it's not a gastrointestinal infection. We need to wait and see how it develops overnight," Tuchel said.
Boris Rupert