Everything on… Borussia Dortmund

On Tuesday night we face Borussia Dortmund in the second leg of our Champions League round of 16 tie (8pm UK).

With a 3-0 lead in tow from February’s first leg, we’ll be hoping we can complete the job in Germany and progress to the quarter-finals of the competition for just the second time.

Here’s everything you need to know about our opponents…

Team news

After being sidelined with injury for the last four weeks, Dortmund’s talismanic captain Marco Reus will be available for Lucien Favre's side after he returned to action in the Bundesliga leaders' 2-1 defeat to Augsburg on Friday evening, completing a 66-minute run-out in Bavaria.

Full-back Marcel Schmelzer could also play a part in the tie after recovering from a knock.

USA international Christian Pulisic is a doubt as continues his return to fitness from injury while defender Lukasz Piszczek (heel) remains out.

One to watch

With a three-goal deficit to overturn at Signal Iduna Park, Borussia Dortmund fans will be delighted to see their prolific skipper Reus back in contention for the tie.

The winger has had his fair share of injury battles since signing for Die Schwarzgelben in the summer of 2012 but when he is fit, he is certainly firing, consistently delivering the required end product.

It was with Dortmund that Reus developed as a youngster, coming through the youth system, but he would leave before he turned 18 to continue his footballing education at Rot Weiss Ahlen.

Three years later he moved further north to join Borussia Mönchengladbach where he excelled under the current Dortmund coach Favre and, in his final season with Die Fohlen, he was named Bundesliga Player of the Season and Footballer of the Year in Germany after scoring 18 goals in 32 appearances.

At the end of the 2011/12 campaign, he completed his return to Dortmund and has been with them ever since. In his first season, he helped his new team to reach the final of the Champions League at Wembley, where they lost out to Bayern Munich through a late, late Arjen Robben winner, while his form this term, with 13 goals in 20 games, has put his side on course to lift their first league title in seven years.

Last five meetings

13 February, 2019 – Spurs 3-0 Borussia Dortmund – UEFA Champions League, round of 16, first leg
21 November, 2017 – Borussia Dortmund 1-2 Spurs – UEFA Champions League, group stage
13 September, 2017 – Spurs 3-1 Borussia Dortmund - UEFA Champions League, group stage
17 March, 2016 – Spurs 1-2 Borussia Dortmund – UEFA Europa League, round of 16, second leg
10 March, 2016 – Borussia Dortmund 3-0 Spurs – UEFA Europa League, round of 16, first leg

Story of the first leg

After keeping the German side at bay in the first half of our initial meeting at Wembley on 13 February, we stormed into action from the off in the second period to build up a 3-0 advantage in the tie.

In front of a bumper crowd, there was little action of note in the first 45 minutes apart from a superb reflex save from Hugo Lloris, as he palmed away Dan-Axel Zagadou's goal-bound header on the stroke of half-time.

After the restart, though, we found our stride and broke the deadlock on 47 minutes as Heung-Min Son continued his remarkable goalscoring record against Dortmund when he volleyed in Jan Vertonghen’s cross.

We made it two on 83 minutes as Jan, operating at left wing-back, took his turn to get on the scoresheet when he smashed in Serge Aurier’s delivery before Fernando Llorente sealed the 3-0 victory in the closing minutes when he nodded in Christian Eriksen’s corner.

Borussia Dortmund’s form

Since that 3-0 defeat to us in the first leg, Dortmund have faced three tests in the Bundesliga and have picked up a mixed bag of results.

They headed to bottom side Nurnberg where they were held to a goalless draw – in the reverse meeting, earlier in the season, Dortmund had recorded a 7-0 victory.

Returning to Signal Iduna Park a week later, the German league leaders got back to winning ways over Bayer Leverkusen with a tense 3-2 victory.

Then, on Friday, two strikes from former Sunderland striker Dong-Won Ji in a 2-1 loss to Augsburg condemned Die Schwarzgelben to just their second defeat of the Bundesliga season.

Played for both

Full-back Young-Pyo Lee spent three years with us before signing for Borussia Dortmund in 2008.

Starting his career with Anyang LG Cheetahs (now known as FC Seoul) at the turn of the millennium, the defender enjoyed a successful World Cup with South Korea in 2002 prior to moving to Europe to join PSV Eindhoven.

After a productive spell in the Eredivisie, winning two league titles under Guus Hiddink, Martin Jol spotted his talent in defence and decided to bring him to north London in the summer of 2005.

In three seasons with us, the South Korean international made just short of a century of appearances with 93 matches to his name, including playing in five of our seven games on the way to the League Cup triumph of 2008.

That summer he moved to Borussia Dortmund for a single campaign before having a spell in Saudi Arabia with Al-Hilal. Lee finished his career at MLS outfit Vancouver Whitecaps in 2013.

What they’re saying

Dortmund boss Favre believes his side has got what it takes to turn the tie around but admits it's a difficult task in front of them.

“We know we can score goals, but we have to be very clever in the way we play,” Favre said. "We mustn't let in any unnecessary goals. We'll need a top performance and will have to play intelligently too.

"We know that it will be difficult but everything is possible. We have to play cleverly.”

Meanwhile, captain Reus pointed to Dortmund's history of turning the tide in difficult situations as something they will be looking to in order to transform the tie.

"There have already been some matches at (Signal Iduna Park) that have made history," Reus explained. "I believe that we're capable of achieving the impossible.

"We need to believe in it and obviously we'll need a top performance. We'll need to go to our limits if we are to then get the goals in the right moments.

"It goes without saying that it's important to find the right balance between defence and attack. If they score a goal, then it'll obviously be very difficult."