The Daily Bee (December 18th, 2018): Matchday and reactions to the Champions League draw

• Matchday 16

The Bundesliga continues with mid-week fixtures, Borussia Dortmund have to travel to Düsseldorf to take on a team fromthe nether regions of the table but one that was able to hold Bayern to a draw so the black and yellows should not underestimate them. It does not look like Favre will rotate to much as he has no real reason to change his team that got the job done against Bremen, here is the suggested line-up from BVB’s twitter account:

Meanwhile Gladbach will take on Nürnberg and hope to stay in striking distance before the “battle of the Borussia’s” on Friday. Bayern Munich will have no easy task getting three points when RB Leipzig visits them on Wednesday, this duel and the one on Saturday against Eintracht Frankfurt will show if the Bavarians are truly back. Another interesting match will be Schalke vs Leverkusen, both teams have severely disappointed this season but could turn it around with a win here.

• Draw reactions from BVB and Spurs

Borussia Dortmund have drawn Tottenham Hotspur in the Champions Leageu round of 16, an evenly matched tie which promises two close games.

Hans-Joachim Watzke commented on it immediately after the draw:

“Every single match in the knockout stage of the Champions League is a hard one[...]The odds are 50-50 from where I’m standing.”

Michael Zorc had similar things to say:

“We could have got an easier draw, but then again it could have been a bit more difficult. In any case it’s a really interesting tie,” said Michael Zorc. “I think it’s a pretty even match-up.”

Compared to last season when Tottenham beat BVB twice in the group stage, Zorc said:

“We have a completely different team and a new coach in the dugout.”

Several Spurs players reacted as well (tottenhamhotspur.com), here’s Harry Kane’s take on the upcoming clash:

“Borussia Dortmund are a top side, great stadium, great support. It’s going to be tough. They are doing well this season in the Bundesliga and they look in top form. So it’s tough, but we know we’re capable of beating them as well.

“We’ve had some good results in the Champions League especially away from home when you look at the likes of Real Madrid (1-1), Dortmund (2-1) and Juventus (2-2) last season and now Barcelona (1-1) this season. It’s good we’ve got that experience, we’ve been there and know how to get it done and now we need to use that again.

“This is what we work hard for, to get through the group and into the knockout stage. We had one point after three games but dug deep to get through. Now it’s up to us to put in the performances home and away to try to progress further.”

Daily Buzz: BVB and Spurs should be pretty evenly matched, if you had to build a starting eleven out of both squads what would it look like?