Borussia Dortmund plays against Chelsea in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 at the Westfalenstadion in the first leg.
Dortmund finished second in their group stage, behind Manchester City, and Chelsea finished on top in their group stage, ahead of AC Milan.
The German side has been in red-hot form and is currently on a six-game winning streak since the World Cup ended. The English side has had a turbulent domestic season and hasn’t enjoyed a favourable season in the Premier League.
It is the first time that the two sides meet, and both teams will look to win the game by a decent margin. Below, we compare the stats from their current European campaigns.
Dortmund vs Chelsea in UCL this season
The viz above shows the percentile rank of both teams’ stats compared to each other as well as to other teams in the UEFA Champions League 2022–23. It can be seen that Chelsea has better overall stats than Borussia Dortmund in most departments. Notably, the visitors have the upper hand in terms of shots, and xG, and are level in goals per 90. Alternatively, there are a couple of departments where the hosts have similar stats, such as opposition entries per 90.
Chelsea maintains 63.08% possession and attempts 608 passes on average with an accuracy of 88.7%. They make 91.5 recoveries per 90 minutes. Whereas, Dortmund keeps the ball for 47.29% of the match on average, attempting 473.83 passes with an accuracy of 85.5%. Additionally, BVB makes 78.67 recoveries per match.
Both teams in front of the goal
Dortmund have taken a total of 66 shots in six UCL matches and scored ten goals. They scored all the goals from close range inside the penalty box, accumulating 7.92 non-penalty xG in total. The xG map above shows that the Bundesliga side has attempted most of their shots inside the box but has also shown the desire to shoot from distance. Dortmund have scored 1.67 goals per match, averaging an xG of 1.32. They take 11 shots per match with a 30.3 % accuracy rate.
Chelsea, on the other hand, have taken 85 shots and scored only nine goals with an xG of 11.71. They have also scored one penalty. The Blues scored a few of the goals from inside the six-yard box and three right from the edge of the penalty area. They scored at the rate of 1.67 goals per match while averaging 2.08 xG. Chelsea averages 14.33 shots per game with a 39.6% success rate.
Attacking zones
The two viz above compare both teams on the basis of their winger actions. While both teams use the flanks significantly to move the ball forward, Chelsea delivers more forward passes and crosses into the box from the wide positions compared to Dortmund.
The hosts average 45.33 passes to the final third with 72.7% accuracy compared to the 57.83 such passes with 70.3% accuracy by the visitors.
Chelsea makes 15.67 crosses per 90 having 37.2% accuracy, whereas Dortmund average 10.33 crosses per 90 having 40.4% accuracy.
Defensive zones
The two viz above compare both teams based on their defensive territory on the pitch. The Blues have made 43.33 interceptions compared to 48.5 interceptions by the German side. The visitors have also made more recoveries inside the box compared to the hosts, with five of them leading to a shot eventually. Overall, Chelsea makes 13.5 fouls per match, compared to the 8.33 made by Dortmund.
Additionally, it can be seen that the Premier League side have a higher backline in comparison with Dortmund and have made much fewer interceptions in the box as compared to the German side.
Key Player
Jude Bellingham is one of the best players in Europe going forward. He has scored four goals in five UCL appearances this season. He has taken six shots in total and has an overall xG of 0.75 in the competition. He has scored most of his goals from inside the box.
If Chelsea are to win this game, their defenders must ensure that the English forward does not have a good game.
Team News
For Dortmund, Youssoufa Moukoko is injured. Marius Wolf, Abdoulaye Kamara, and Mateu Morey are also ruled out.
Chelsea are without N’Golo Kante, Christian Pulisic, Armando Broja, and Edouard Mendy.
In conclusion, Chelsea have not been in great form for some time now, and they will need to dig deep in order to come away with a positive result against the Germans, who are in red-hot form.
Visuals via TFA data viz engine
