A Borussia Dortmund team boasting the likes of Jude Bellingham, Gio Reyna and Erling Haaland will be all fired up against Sevilla. - © DFL
A Borussia Dortmund team boasting the likes of Jude Bellingham, Gio Reyna and Erling Haaland will be all fired up against Sevilla. - © DFL
bundesliga

5 reasons Borussia Dortmund will beat Sevilla AGAIN in the UEFA Champions League

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Borussia Dortmund needn't only rely on Erling Haaland to get the job done against Sevilla in their UEFA Champions League last-16 second leg at the Signal Iduna Park on Tuesday.

>> Click here for Dortmund vs. Sevilla team news!

bundesliga.com presents five reasons why Dortmund will win out at the Signal Iduna Park, having powered to a 3-2 win in the first leg...

1) Haaland untouchable

Not even 2020 FIFA Best Player Robert Lewandowski can match Haaland for Champions League goals this season. The Bayern Munich striker has scored four times in five appearances so far this term, averaging 111 minutes per goal. After his double in the first leg 3-2 victory, Haaland has put away twice as many in as many games at a clip of one every 55 minutes.

Haaland is already Dortmund's record scorer in the competition, while no player Europe-wide has reached 16 career Champions League goals in fewer games. His overall record in BVB colours is a quite ridiculous 47 goals in 44 first-team matches, including 29 in 28 outings so far this term after his two first half strikes against Bayern in Der Klassiker.

Watch: Erling Haaland and Jadon Sancho - Dortmund's dream duo

Sevilla's attempt at an answer to Haaland is Moroccan Youssef En-Nesyri, who has 17 goals to show for his 37 competitive appearances in 2020/21.

Head coach Julen Lopetegui tended to favour ex-Borussia Mönchengladbach forward Luuk de Jong in the Group Stages and it was the Dutchman who climbed off the bench to keep Sevilla in the tie with his 84th-minute strike in the first leg. He has scored eight goals in 34 matches this term - more than he managed in 36 Bundesliga appearances across his 18-month stint in Germany between 2012 and 2014.

Even if both were to start, the stats suggest the irreplaceable, irrepressible Haaland would still outgun them handsomely - as he did so with his brace in Spain.

2) No Sancho? No problem!

Dortmund are no one-man band, either. In Jadon Sancho, the Black-Yellows boast a player who moves like a butterfly and stings like club mascot Emma the bee.

The England international has been involved in 15 of Dortmund's 31 competitive goals since the turn of the year, including his provision for Haaland that made it 2-1 in Sevilla, but misses the return fixture through injury.

Happily, Dortmund can count on Thorgan Hazard to fill the void as he did in Munich. The Belgian teed up Haaland for his second, with the kind of devastating link-up that Sancho and his Norwegian teammate ruthlessly exhibit so often. Eden's younger brother also had a direct hand in three goals in five appearances in Group F.

Watch: Jadon Sancho under the tactical microscope

3) The spirit of 2012/13

Haaland and Sancho were only 13 when Dortmund blew through the field to reach their second Champions League final in 2012/13. BVB topped a group that included Real Madrid, Ajax and Man City, before tonking Shakhtar Donetsk 5-2 on aggregate in the last-16.

Spanish pair Malaga and Real ran them close in the ensuing rounds, but Dortmund prevailed 3-2 and 4-3 respectively. Only a last-gasp 2-1 defeat to Bayern at Wembley Stadium denied them their place in history alongside the Champions League-winning class of 1996/97.

Robert Lewandowski (r.) scored all four Dortmund goals in their 2012/13 Champions League semi-final first leg win over Real Madrid. - 2013 AFP

Defender Mats Hummels and club captain Marco Reus are the surviving members of Jürgen Klopp's 2012/13 runners-up - a swashbuckling unit remembered fondly as the finest to have ever worn the Dortmund shirt.

Ilkay Gündogan, Mario Götze and Lewandowski were also part of the crew, but few teams can match Dortmund's current crop, pound-for-pound, in terms of raw potential.

If lifelong BVB fan and interim coach Edin Terzic can successfully tap into it, there's nothing to stop Haaland & Co. going the distance.

4) Young, wild and free supporting cast

Dortmund's boyish insouciance helps their cause.

At 17, Jude Bellingham has already made 31 appearances in his debut season at the Signal Iduna Park, including five Champions League starts. The midfielder also won his first senior England cap in November.

Gio Reyna - who Dortmund will also be hoping to have back in time after missing the meeting with Bayern - turned 18 on 13 November 2020, 24 hours after making his USMNT bow. The American only burst onto the first-team scene last January, but has been a regular in the side throughout 2020/21. He's produced four goals and six assists in his 32 outings, and until recently ranked as the youngest Dortmund player to feature in the Champions League.

Watch: Dortmund's next generation

That particular distinction now belongs to Youssoufa Moukoko, who became the Champions League's greenest debutant with his late cameo in Dortmund's 2-1 win away to Zenit on Matchday 6, aged 16 years and 18 days.

The Germany U20 international has since scored twice in the Bundesliga - replacing ex-Dortmund midfielder Nuri Sahin in the domestic annals - and still has a good 12 months to usurp Barcelona's Ansu Fati as the Champions League's youngest marksman (17 years and 40 days).

Moukoko's tally of 141 goals in 88 games at youth level suggests he will reset that particular bar sooner rather than later.

Youssoufa Moukoko has made 12 senior appearances for Dortmund, since turning 16 on 20 November 2020. - Neundorf/Kirchner via www.imago-images.de/imago images/Kirchner-Media

5) Hampered visitors

Age is not something UEFA Europa League holders Sevilla have on their side. Only three of their outfield playing squad are under 23; eight are 30 or over.

Captain Jesus Navas is the oldest of the bunch at 35, followed by Brazilian midfielder Fernando Reges (33), January signing Papu Gomez (32) and 2014/15 Champions League winner Ivan Rakitic (32). De Jong - the likely starter in the central striker role - is halfway to 31.

That puts Sevilla's average age at around 27.6 - over three years older than Dortmund's - but it's not just creaking bones that could prevent los Blanquirrojos from going full throttle.

Argentine winger Lucas Ocampos - with seven goals and four assists this season - is out with an ankle injury, while Sevilla have lost three out of four games since defeat to Dortmund. The latest was a 2-1 loss at second-bottom Elche on Saturday that doesn't bode well for the Spaniards ahead of their trip to Germany.