Borussia Dortmund vs. Real Madrid, 2013 UEFA Champions League: The Robert Lewandowski show

Borussia Dortmund are heading to the Santiago Bernabeu with a three-goal lead, thanks to a masterful performance by Robert Lewandowski. He scored all four of his team’s goals on Wednesday night in their 4-1 win over Real Madrid.

Dortmund’s superstar striker would make up for his slow reaction on that occasion just a minute later, when he tapped in his team’s opening goal. Ilkay Gündogan started the move with a great ball out wide for Mario Götze, who swung a perfect cross towards the back post. Lewandowski got himself into the perfect spot to direct the cross into the back of the net with his outstretched leg to give Dortmund the lead.

Jürgen Klopp has brought back his first choice central defense pairing from the last two seasons, moving Felipe Santana to the bench. Ilkay Gündogan and Sven Bender are preferred in the center of midfield to Nuri Sahin and captain Sebastian Kehl. The front four features no surprises.

Borussia Dortmund starting XI (4-2-3-1): Roman Weidenfeller; Marcel Schmelzer, Mats Hummels, Neven Subotic, Lukasz Piszczek; Ilkay Gündogan, Sven Bender; Marco Reus, Mario Götze, Jakub Blaszczykowsi; Robert Lewandowski

These two teams have met twice already this season in the Champions League group stages with Dortmund winning 2-1 in Germany and the teams drawing 2-2 in Spain. Dortmund went on to win the group thanks in large part to those two results, but things are likely to be a lot different today.

Another key match-up to watch is how Raphael Varane and Pepe deal with Dortmund’s physical striker Robert Lewandowski and Managing Madrid break that down as well.

Borussia Dortmund’s rise to becoming one of the meanest sides in European football has been remarkable. Last season’s Bundesliga champions will take to the field against Real Madrid on Wednesday night looking to put themselves in a commanding position to reach their first Champions League final since they won it in 1997.

Unfortunately, it could well be their last chance for a while.

On Wednesday afternoon, Borussia Dortmund will play in their first Champions League semifinal since 1998. In that April tie Die Borussen lost out 2-0 on aggregate to their opponents this year, Real Madrid. After winning the UCL in 1997 and making the semifinals in 1998, BVB and her supporters likely couldn’t imagine that it would be another fifteen years before they were that deep in the competition again.

The mid to late nineties were the glory days for BVB. During a four year period, mostly under the direction of the legendary Ottmar Hitzfeld, Dortmund won six trophies including two Bundesliga crowns and the ever-elusive Champions League title.

Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid. UEFA Champions League semifinals . It’ll be a fantastic pair of games, and predicting the winner’s very difficult right now. Both sides are superb, and anyone expecting an easy semifinal should simply refer back to the group stages to see just how tricky this tie will be for Jose Mourinho and company.

But there’s something stranger going on here than merely having an eminently watchable Champions League semifinal, which is weird enough on its own. In BVB-Real we have the oddest of clashes: A pair of teams facing off against what are essentially themselves.

Real Madrid will be favourites to progress against Borussia Dortmund in their Champions League semi-final, but the Germans will know that they have more than a decent chance of what could be their best opportunity for a long time in making the final.

José Mourinho, however, may also feel the same way - he also looks likely to be moving on in the summer, so this may be the only chance he has to win the Champions League with Real Madrid, in addition to requiring atonement for his side’s desperately poor league campaign.

Der BVB got the better of Real Madrid in their first two meetings, taking four points from them to finish on top of the group. That forced Los Merengues into a tough Round of 16 tie with Manchester United, which they got through, aided by a bit of questionable officiating. Feel free to claim that these teams have no right to be here, bitter Malaga and Man United supporters.

Robert Lewandowski, Sebastian Kehl and Sven Bender have all picked up knocks recently, but all of them are expected to be available to start for Klopp.