Borussia Dortmund Draw Chelsea in Champions League Round of 16

The Champions League draw took place this morning, and I completely forgot about it until I read through the messages from my friends, discussing some of the huge games we’ve got for the upcoming Round of 16. It turns out that this draw delivered some absolute bangers! But first, lets start with Borussia Dortmund’s slightly less banger-y but still pretty solid draw: BVB will play Chelsea in the first knockout stage of the Champions League.

There are no easy teams left in the draw, and that’s even more the case when you’ve finished 2nd in your group (and are therefore drawn to face one of the teams that finished top of their group), but Chelsea is probably one of the “easier” teams BVB could have been drawn against. They’re certainly no joke, and in reality Dortmund will probably be slight underdogs going into the tie, but they’re clearly still figuring things out under Graham Potter, and with any luck they’ll still be in that position when Dortmund face them.

Here’s how the rest of the draw played out:

RB Leipzig v Manchester City

Club Brugge v Benfica

Liverpool v Real Madrid

AC Milan v Tottenham

Eintracht Frankfurt v Napoli

Borussia Dortmund v Chelsea

Inter Milan v Porto

PSG v Bayern Munich

The Bundesliga sides got some pretty rough luck (in large part due to the fact three of the four German sides finished second in their group). RB Leipzig are really up against it with Manchester City, and Frankfurt have been drawn against a Napoli side that has been in incredible form this season. Finally, one of the biggest ties of the Round of 16 is surely going to be PSG vs Bayern Munich. Exciting stuff!

But if PSG vs Bayern Munich feels like it could be the marquee fixture of the Round of 16, there is one tie that is even bigger. Liverpool being drawn to play Real Madrid pitches two of the most successful clubs in the tournament’s history against each other. And as for the rest? I’m looking forward to AC Milan vs Tottenham, but we’ve got plenty of juicy ties to look forward to.

The Europa League draw is currently taking place, so we will soon find out who Freiburg, Union Berlin, and Bayer Leverkusen are up against too. We will give an update when we find out the results of that draw too, but if you want to follow along, you can do so here.

Your Thoughts?

How do you feel about Borussia Dortmund’s draw? Do you think BVB can beat Chelsea?