Friday, August 7, 2015

What are the 'Odds' that Dortmund advance in the Europa League?



The European draws were held Friday and Borussia Dortmund - one of the Bundesliga's most beloved teams and one that your correspondent saw advance in a thrilling German Cup semi-final at a stunned Allianz Arena in April - drew an odd opponent.

Make that Norwegian club Odds - that's right - Odds. This oddball club was formed in 1894 and will count on Pape Paté Diouf to upset Die Schwarzgelben.

The Europa League is often times forgettable but this year has some other delectable ties such as Gabala v. Panathinaikos, Bordeaux v. Kairat and Krasnodar v. HJK Helsinki.

Dortmund figure to be one of the highest seeded teams in a competition that includes bitter Ruhr rival Schalke 04, Italian giants Napoli and perennial English flops Tottenham Hotspur.  BVB already advanced with a whopping 21-0 shot advantage in their third-round decider with Austrian outfit Wolfsberger. Up next for BVB is a tricky DFB Pokal trip to Chemnitzer FC on Sunday.

New boss Thomas Tuchel has seemingly revived the once-stale Henrikh Mkhitharyan, who had a hat trick this week. Tuchel has big shows to fill in replacing the man known as Kloppo.

The Europa League now awards the champion a ticket to the Champions League and  BVB are one of the favourites for the competition.




 

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