"Atletico is a great draw," said Hans-Joachim Watzke, chairman of the board of directors, when the draw for the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals had been made, especially as the biggest wish of the club's executives came to fruition: to be able to play the second leg in the largest club competition in the world at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK.

Borussia Dortmund's opponents in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals are "Club Atlético de Madrid". On paper, it is a draw that sees two very evenly matched sides pitted against each other. Both clubs currently occupy fourth place in the table in their respective domestic leagues, and both are a long way behind the leaders. In UEFA's five-year standings, BVB are 11th – narrowly above 13th-placed Atletico. "An evenly matched draw," said sporting director Sebastian Kehl. "I see two teams that are looking to make it through to the next round. We will prepare well for this and I am very optimistic about it. We will face a very experienced, very compact team that play an intense brand of football."

"Of course, they're strong opposition. But there were only strong opponents left in the pot," said head coach Edin Terzic. He said the first goal was to get a result against an opponent "who can be a little monster in knockout games," which leaves it in our hands for the second leg in Dortmund on 16 or 17 April.

The head-to-head record between the sides is actually slightly positive from Borussia Dortmund's point of view, with three wins for BVB, one draw and two Atletico victories. On their way to winning the European Cup Winners' Cup in 1965/66, BVB eliminated Atletico in the quarter-finals after a 1-1 draw in the first leg and a 1-0 victory in the Rote Erde. Lothar Emmerich scored both goals for BVB. On the way to the Champions League victory in 1997, Atletico were one of BVB's three opponents in the group stage. The Black & Yellows won 1-0 in Madrid thanks to a goal from Stefan Reuter, but lost 2-1 at home. Most recently, the two clubs faced each other in autumn 2018, with both matches having a clear home winner – BVB winning 4-0 in Dortmund, while Atletico won 2-0 in Madrid.

The decisive factor for the outcome of this tie may yet prove to be the luck of the draw: "You don't want to go to Madrid for the second leg," Hans-Joachim Watzke said after the draw. The Spaniards have lost only eight of their 60 home matches in the UEFA Champions League. In "La Liga" they are unbeaten at home this season (13 wins, one draw). However, the winners of the tie will be decided in the second leg at IDUNA PARK SIGNAL. "We want to experience a magical night like two days ago against PSV," said Edin Terzic.

Atletico won Group F with home victories against Feyenoord (3-2), Celtic (6-0) and Lazio (2-0), and suffered their only defeat in the competition so far this season in the first leg of the round of 16, losing 1-0 away to Inter Milan. Diego Simeone – who has been in office since 2011 – saw his team win the second leg in front of 69,196 spectators in the Civitas Metropolitano 3-2, and they qualified after the subsequent penalty shootout. The two-time finalists (2014 and 2016) are in the quarter-finals for the seventh time in the past 11 seasons; BVB have managed that five times since 2013.
Boris Rupert

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