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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).
Back to the present day, and here's an update from our man in the ground, Tom Collomosse!
Tonight should have been an ideal game for a player like Bentaleb, but there seems no way in for him https://t.co/Vu2n2ANVCt
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So Dortmund are your favourites going into tonight's game, with over 50% of you backing the Bundesliga outfit.
Let's see if we can tip the balance there with some last minute stats!
GOALSBorussia Dortmund have found the net 13 times so far in their Europa League campaign, while Spurs have scored 16.
SHOTSThose 13 Dortmund goals have come from 140 shots, 57 of which were on target.Spurs' 16 have been from a total of 101 efforts on goal, of which 45 were on target.
POSSESSIONDortmund have impressed here, maintaining possession for 65% overall, while Spurs come in at 55%.
The noise inside the Westfalenstadion is being cranked up notch by notch. How will Spurs fare?
The teams are out in Dortmund! Come on you Spurrrrssssss! #COYS
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@BVB vs @SpursOfficial is more like a @EuropaLeague final!!! A tough game for both but a 2:0 win for @BVB#UEL#BVBTOT
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