Story byKovac: “The winner has the opportunity to reach the last eight”Borussia DortmundMon, January 19, 2026 at 11:45 PM UTC·2 min readScenarioBoth teams faced Bodø/Glimt during the league phase, and both squandered their chance to improve their position in the table by drawing 2-2 with the Norwegians: instead of fifth (Tottenham) and fourth (Dortmund), the penultimate matchday will see “eleventh against tenth”. Despite being only one point behind, neither team have direct control over reaching the round of 16. “If we don’t make it tomorrow, for whatever reason, it’s not the end of the world,” emphasised Niko Kovac: “I said at the beginning of the Champions League season: we want to reach the play-off phase.” The clubs in ninth to 24th place will reach this stage. Ambitions“We want to win, and to do that we have to deliver a top performance,” said Borussia Dortmund’s head coach 26 hours before kick-off: “It’s an important game.
