Benfica v Borussia Dortmund: Probable Line-ups – Emre Mor joins squad, Tuchel facing midfield crisis
Borussia Dortmund take on Benfica in the first-leg of the Champions League Last 16 clash at the Estadio da Luz.
The German giants have been wildly unpredictable this season but they have put on their best performances in the big games.
Dortmund beat Bayern Munich and LB Leipzig in the league while finishing ahead of Real Madrid in the Champions League.
The Bundesliga outfit are facing a bit of a midfield crisis with Mario Gotze and Sven Bender both out while Turkish international midfielder Nuri Sahin and Sebastian Rode remain doubts.
Emre Mor has established himself as one of the brightest talents in Turkish football and he did provide an assist in Dortmund’s 2-1 defeat against Darmstadt on the weekend.
Mor is unlikely to start against Benfica but he could come on at some stage in the second half to provide fresh legs and remains an additional attacking option for head coach Thomas Tuchel.
The 19-year-old now has one goal and three assists in all competitions for Dortmund this season since joining from Nordsjaelland on a five-year deal over the summer.
Benfica meanwhile are without suspended forward Andrija Zivkovic and injured defender Lisandro Lopez while Jonas also is a doubt.
The Portuguese giants scraped past qualification on Match Day 6 despite losing against Napoli.
Benfica would have been knocked out had Besiktas beat Dynamo Kiev – who had failed to win a single game until the final match. However, the Ukrainian side beat Besiktas 6-0 in Kiev to ensure it was Benfica that reached the Last 16.
Benfica v Borussia Dortmund: Probable Line-ups
Benfica (4-4-2): Ederson Moraes; Eliseu, Victor Lindelöf, Luisão, Nelsinho; Franco Cervi, Ljubomir Fejsa, Pizzi, Eduardo Salvio; Jonas, Kostas Mitroglou
Borussia Dortmund (3-4-2-1): Roman Bürki; Matthias Ginter, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Łukasz Piszczek; Raphael Guerrëiro, Julian Weigl, Gonzalo Castro, Erik Durm; Marco Reus, Ousmane Dembélé; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
