Borussia Dortmund vs. Shakhtar Donetsk, 2013 UEFA Champions League: Der BVB cruise through

Borussia Dortmund have advanced to the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League after an assured win over Ukrainians Shakhtar Donetsk. After drawing 2-2 in the first leg, and with both sides missing a key defender, there was some question of whether or not this match would be close, but BVB ran away with it early and never looked back.

The first sign of danger for Shakhtar came when Mario Götze played in Robert Lewandowski in the 12th minute, and only a last-gasp combined effort from Olexandr Kucher and Andriy Pyatov managed to keep the dangerous striker at bay. But that was only repreive. On the half-hour mark, BVB struck. Felipe Santana wasn’t even supposed to be in the lineup -- the centre back was standing in for the injured Mats Hummels. But that didn’t stop him from making a major impact, evading his marker to power home Götze’s corner to open the scoring.

Not much happened in the early stages, but half-chances started popping up around the ten minute mark. Henrikh Mkhitaryan nearly managed to sneak the ball through to Luiz Adriano as Shakhtar pressed the attack, but it was the other end of the pitch that saw a more significant threat develop. Mario Goetze did very well with a sneaky reverse pass, and it took a desperate block from Andriy Pyatov to keep Robert Lewandowski from finding the back of the net.

Minutes later, Olexandr Kucher managed to get himself booked as the centre half dragged down Lewandowski on the counterattack, and the visitors had to survive another scare when Marco Reus managed to retrieve possession on the byline and drove in a low cross that none of the assembled yellow shirts could force home.

After an exciting first leg in the Ukraine that ended in a 2-2 draw, it’s almost time for the second leg. Hopefully this match will live up to excitement bar set by the first meeting between these two teams.

Jürgen Klopp had hoped to get Mats Hummels back for this match but the German international defender still isn’t ready to go so Felipe Santana takes his place on the back line. İlkay Gündoğan, who missed the first leg with an injury, returns to his place in the midfield and that’s a good thing for Dortmund.

Shakhtar Donetsk and Borussia Dortmund are two of the fastest and fittest teams on earth, so it came as no surprise when the two produced an exciting 2-2 draw in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League tie. Both teams refused to change their normal style of play despite having to play a very similar opponent, and the winner was the neutral viewer.

Der BVB appeared to benefit from playing the first leg of this tie away from home. The result of the first leg of this tie might have been the same no matter where they played it, but Dortmund look like they have a serious advantage now that they have two away goals. A 0-0 or 1-1 draw will send them through to the next round.