It was not Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Atalanta or Porto that Stéphane Chapuisat pulled out of the hat for his ex-club Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Champions League last 16 draw. It was the reigning Europa League champions Sevilla. The Black & Yellows now have a tough but doable task awaiting them across two games in February and March 2021.

"We're up against a good opponent but we believe we're equal to them," said BVB boss Hans-Joachim Watzke. Sporting director Michael Zorc spoke of an "interesting draw. There are no favourites in such ties. I'm expecting tight games."

Both clubs have exactly the same record in their respective domestic divisions this season: six wins, one draw and four defeats, which equates to 19 points from 11 games. Both occupy fifth place in the league. "They still have games in hand, could overtake Atlético and climb up to third place," said Zorc. Last season, the 1946 Spanish champions and five-time Copa del Rey winners finished fourth, 17 points behind champions Real Madrid.

The Andalusians' biggest triumphs now tend to come on the international stage. With six titles – all of them won since the turn of the century (between 2006 and 2020) – they are the record champions in the UEFA Europa League/UEFA Cup. Sevilla finished second in UEFA Champions League Group E this term with an impressive 13 points, one behind Chelsea (14). The drew 0-0 to the group winners away and lost 4-0 at home. A technically gifted team, Sevilla beat both Krasnodar and Rennes home and away, although all of those games bar one was won by a one-goal margin.

The new head coach Edin Terzic has some personal memories of our upcoming opponents. On 15 December 2010, almost 10 years ago to the day, all of the BVB staff – including Terzic – were invited to Sevilla's Christmas Party following the final group game in the UEFA Europa League. Then coached by Jürgen Klopp, BVB had lost the home fixture 1-0 (Marcel Schmelzer was harshly sent off for a second bookable offence in the 50th minute and Shinji Kagawa hit the inside of the post). Borussia needed a win, but the Spaniards used every trick that was permitted – and some that weren't – to salvage a 2-2 draw. Kagawa and Subotic scored the BVB goals. "The ball boys disappeared after 14 minutes," Terzic said.
Boris Rupert