The UEFA Champions League Round of 16 tie with Tottenham will be the 14th time Borussia Dortmund have faced an English club in European competition. The first time was against Manchester United in October 1956. BVB have met Spurs twice previously – and experienced mixed fortunes.

The 2016/17 UEFA Europa League Round of 16 saw the second-placed sides in the Bundesliga and the Premier League go head to head. But while BVB finished that campaign as the best runner-up in the history of the German top flight, Spurs were still very much in the domestic title race at the time and did not attribute the same level of importance to their two meetings with the Black & Yellows.

But that does not in any way diminish the two displays by Dortmund, who – in the words of Spiegel Online – were "close to perfection" in the first leg. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang netted the long-overdue opener on the half-hour mark, with a Marco Reus brace midway through the second period securing the victory for BVB.

First win for a German club at White Hart Lane

Dortmund took a 3-0 lead into the return leg at White Hart Lane, where they delivered a focused defensive display despite their back line having never played together in that formation before. A spectacular strike by Aubameyang in the 24th minute put the Black & Yellows on the path to success, the Gabon forward getting the all-important away goal with a curling effort that nestled just inside the right post. With a 4-0 aggregate lead at the interval, the tie was more or less over already, although there were still one or two excellent moments once the second period got underway. Aubameyang doubled the advantage on the 70-minute mark and, although Son pulled a goal back, Dortmund managed to see out the victory and become the first German club to win at White Hart Lane.

Two recent defeats at the hands of Tottenham

The 67,343 fans at Wembley on Matchday 1 of the 2017/18 UEFA Champions League campaign saw a dominant opening half from Dortmund, but it was the hosts who raced into an early lead thanks to a Son strike following a counter-attack in the fourth minute. Andrey Yarmolenko equalised on 11 minutes, only for Kane to re-establish the Spurs lead on the 15-minute mark. Christian Pulisic then had a goal incorrectly disallowed (45), as did Aubameyang (56) when the Italian linesman narrowly made the wrong offside call. Instead, it was Spurs who went 3-1 ahead through Kane and inflicted a first competitive defeat on BVB boss Peter Bosz, who had made an excellent start to the domestic campaign.

In the return leg, which took place in a poor November period for BVB, the Black & Yellows deservedly led at the break through Aubameyang, who had been brilliantly teed up by Yarmolenko in the 31st minute. Roman Bürki made two super saves to keep his side's lead intact, but he was powerless to stop Spurs' star striker Harry Kane in the 49th minute. The goal gave Spurs a new lease of life and they struck again through Heung-Min Son on 76 minutes to seal a 2-1 win.
Boris Rupert