With one eye on the hotly-anticipated "Der Klassiker" clash with title rivals Bayern Munich this weekend, Borussia Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel could opt to rotate his squad for their clash with PAOK in today's Europa League match. Die Schwarzgelben are currently viewed as the heavy favorites to qualify from their group, having won their opening game versus Krasnodar 2-1. They are presently the only side to have earned all three points in their quartet, especially given that their Greek opponents had to settle for a draw in their first group stage game.
PAOK
Despite PAOK being pretty solid at home this season in European competitions - with three wins and 12 goals scored - they do not enjoy a good record against German opponents. The last time they were able to defeat a Bundesliga team was in 1981 when they needed penalty kicks to edge out Eintracht Frankfurt in a second leg clash. Out of their most five recent meetings against teams from Germany, they have failed to win any, but currently they do boast some highly experienced veterans. Bayer Leverkusen, Manchester United, and Tottenham fans will be certainly well-aware of the goal-scoring prowess of Dimitar Berbatov. Although the Bulgarian striker is advancing in years, he nonetheless showed his class recently by netting against Atromitos to help his side rally back to win after falling a goal behind.
Currently managed by Juventus icon and ex-Croatian international Igor Tudor, today's hosts will be coming into this game having won their past two domestic fixtures and presently sit fourth in the league. All in all, PAOK have a solid track record in the Europa League: they have successfully navigated their way through to the group stages on five occasions and reached the knockout rounds three times. In their opening group stage match, they were frustrated not to score past Gabala and will want to make up for that in front of their home fans this evening.
Borussia Dortmund
Meanwhile, Tuchel's men, after a high-flying start in the Bundesliga have hit a snag, having dropped points in successive draws with Hoffenheim and Darmstadt. This has allowed Bayern - who boast a 100 per cent win record - to already widen the gap at the top of the table to four points and the 2013 Champions League finalists will be keen on making sure die Roten don't further pull ahead in their crunch clash this weekend. However, first up will be dealing with PAOK and ensuring that they consolidate their top spot in their group; a win for the Greeks would actually push Dortmund down to second - and possibly third - should Gabala manage to defeat Krasnodar.
Dortmund did have some injury concerns regarding star attacker Marco Reus, with the German international missing out on the game versus Krasnodar due to a toe problem. However, he has been declared fit but it will be interesting to see if Tuchel opts to risk him or rest him ahead of the game versus Bayern in a few days' time. Nuri Sahin, Erik Durm and Neven Subotic will all definitely take no part in this contest, with the trio suffering from knee injuries.
Prior to drawing their last two games, Dortmund had racked up an impressive 11 straight wins across all competitions and the goals have certainly not been in short supply. In their past 11 matches they have scored over 35 times and in Europe, netted 11 in two legs versus Norwegian outfit Odd - albeit they did concede five in the two legs during their qualifying clashes.
With some new faces joining the exciting German side - including Manchester United's Adnan Januzaj and South Korean international Park Joo-ho from fellow Bundesliga side Mainz - coupled with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's sparkling form, Tuchel truly has a wealth of attacking options at his disposal. The difficult decision will definitely be who to play, who to rest, and how to rotate to make sure they depart Thessaloníki's Stadio Toumbas with all three points in the bag to get them raring to go for their trip to the Allianz Arena this Sunday.
Will Dortmund make it two wins in two to further expand their advantage in Group C? Make sure you don't miss out on this game and more by bookmarking LiveSoccerTV.com's special PAOK vs. Borussia Dortmund and Europa League pages for viewing details for your specific location.
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