Dortmund - Chelsea: Waiting for Potter's wrath?
Chelsea have won just three of the 14 games since Potter was appointed. Since the beginning of 2023, the London team has won only one of eight games. They drew all three recent Premier League rounds, the latest being against West Ham (1-1). Despite that poor form, Potter still has the full support of the management.
Todd Boehly does not run the club in the style of Roman Abramovich. Perhaps, the American billionaire feels the need to be patient with the first coach chosen by himself. But even so, Potter is one of the most pressured managers in England, especially after Chelsea spent $ 398 million for the January 2023 transfer window.
In the pre-match press conference, someone questioned the calm, less angry style of the 47-year-old military leader. Potter replied: "I chose to behave off the touchline. There was a newspaper that advised me to be more angry, and then talked about refereeing in football. I don't see the connection. This is the story. I understand that being right is a way of showing responsibility to yourself, Chelsea and the game."
Chelsea fans hope that provocative questions from the media will stimulate Potter to show his personality in his first Champions League knockout round. Since taking office, the former Brighton coach has performed quite well in this arena when helping Chelsea overcome Milan, RB Salzburg and Dinamo Zagreb to top Group E.
Meanwhile, Dortmund is second in Group G, five points less than Man City. Edin Terzic's teachers and students are third in the Bundesliga, three points behind Bayern at the top. Contrary to Chelsea, Dortmund is in very high form. The 2-0 win over Werder Bremen over the weekend was their sixth consecutive victory in all competitions since the World Cup.
The Westfalenstadion home ground is also the fulcrum of the German club. Dortmund have only failed four times in 21 home matches in the Champions League. However, three of those four defeats took place against English clubs. In fact, Dortmund has always faced difficulties against the English club. In the last 10 times against the foggy teams in the European arena, Dortmund did not win a match and lost eight. But Chelsea also did not have a good record when away from German clubs before with only three wins in 11 matches.
"The Chelsea squad is full of good players. Look at their bench. With Enzo Fernandez, Chelsea recruited one of the highest priced players. And Mykhailo Mudryk also performed very well in Donetsk. It is not easy for Dortmund when the opponent has brought in quality players and is a top team.In the Champions League, the form of the past weeks in the domestic league is not valuable. form," said Terzic.
Dortmund will be without young talent Youssoufa Moukoko after the striker injured his ankle against Bremen and had to miss six weeks. Therefore, Sebastian Haller or Anthony Modeste are most likely to kick the top of the home team. Marius Wolf, Abdoulaye Kamara and Mateu Morey are also absent but Thomas Meunier will return.
Chelsea's injury list is relatively long, with N'Golo Kante, Christian Pulisic, Armando Broja and Edouard Mendy. Aubameyang, Benoit Badiashile, Noni Madueke, David Datro Fofana and Andrey Santos were not registered for the Champions League by Potter. The English club also have to wait for the results of medical tests to see if Wesley Fofana, Mateo Kovacic, Denis Zakaria, Raheem Sterling and Kalidou Koulibaly can play.
