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Your support makes all the difference.Welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of Thursday night’s Europa League round of 16 first leg between Borussia Dortmund and Tottenham Hotspur.
Mauricio Pochettino’s side travel to face the in-form Schwarzgelben for the first time in European competition,
Dortmund, who are unbeaten in their last 11 games across all competitions, are currently second in the Bundesliga.
Borussia Dortmund vs Tottenham Hotspur
Follow every kick of the action at the Westfalenstadion with our live blog below…
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Match facts
Borussia Dortmund have lost just one of their last eight matches at home to English sides in European competition, but this defeat was against Spurs' North London rival Arsenal (W5 D2).
The Lilywhites have won twice away in Germany in their European history - beating Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 in 2006 and FC Koln in 1974, both coming in the UEFA Cup.
Dortmund have made the last 16 of each of their last four European campaigns, the other three being in the Champions League. They were however eliminated at the last 16 stage last season to Juventus in that competition.
Spurs have reached the last 16 of the Europa League for the first time since 2013/14, having been eliminated at the last 32 stage by Fiorentina last season.
The last time Borussia Dortmund faced an English side in the knockout phases of a European competition, they went onto to win the tournament (v Manchester United in the Champions League semi-final in 1996/97).
Only Aritz Aduriz (7) has scored more Europa League goals this season than Erik Lamela (6).
Henrikh Mkhitaryan has created more chances in the Europa League than any other Dortmund player this season (20).
To win tonight, #thfc must get the better of a 20-feet-tall Marco Reus https://t.co/Vu2n2ANVCthttps://t.co/okxLXcmObo
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Good afternoon everybody! What a game we have in store for you tonight.
Spurs, who are flying high in second place in the Premier League, face Borussia Dortmund, who are flying high in second place in the Bundesliga table.
Spot the difference.
Spurs have arrived bright and early.
We have arrived at Signal Iduna Park! #COYShttps://t.co/VliqnUe6sV
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So too has Standard Sport correspondent Tom Collomosse (@TomCStandard).
There are a fair few Spurs fans in attendance too, by the looks of it.
Tottenham fans in Dortmund today https://t.co/l2S1hjArjL
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Andy why not? You don't get many chances to visit the Westfalenstadion, do you?
Getting a glimpse of the famous 'Yellow Wall' is on every football fan's bucket list.
The South Stand has a capacity of 25,000. That's just under a quarter of the stadium's capacity, which stands at a whopping 81,000.
Expect a full house tonight, as usual. Roughly 3,400 travelling Spurs fans will be in attendance.
"Prince Harry, the darling of the fans". https://t.co/Vu2n2ANVCthttps://t.co/7P7KtSYC4p
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Mr. Kane is expected to lead the Spurs line tonight, fresh from his stunning strike against Arsenal.Whether he has his shooting boots on this evening will go some way to deciding the contest, I suspect.
But the England international is going to have to battle for the spot light with Dortmund's danger man Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
How do the two strikers compare, you ask? Look no further.
Lloris (C), Trippier, Alderweireld, Wimmer, Davies; Carroll, Mason; Onomah, Son, Eriksen; Chadlihttps://t.co/hhnL0lqrT5
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Subs: Vorm, Carter-Vickers, Walker, Bentaleb, Dembele, Lamela, Kane. #COYS
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It looks like Tottenham's Twitter account had a bit of a mix up there. Harry Kane was initially named up front but starts on the bench. Nacer Chadli leads the line.
The midfield three consists of Christian Eriksen, Heung-min Son and Joshua Onomah.
Ryan Mason and Tom Carroll have been paired in midfield.
BVB: Weidenfeller, Durm, Piszczek, Bender, Hummels, Schmelzer, Weigl, Castro, Mkhitaryan, Reus, Aubameyang #bvbtothttps://t.co/7JthgdObHJ
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All of the hosts' big guns are on show.
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