Sevilla are on a run, and they welcome Borussia Dortmund to the Sanchez-Pizjuan this evening in the first leg of the Champions League last 16 full of confidence. They sit fourth in La Liga, a point and a place behind Barcelona, four behind Real Madrid and nine behind leaders Atletico Madrid.
Julen Lopetegui has opted for close to a full-strength starting XI, missing just Marcos Acuna and Lucas Ocampos through injury. Bono starts in goal, protected by a back four of Jesus Navas, Jules Kounde, Diego Carlos and Sergio Escudero. Fernando sits, with Joan Jordan and Ivan Rakitic just in front of him. Suso and Papu Gomez start in the wide areas, with Youssef En-Nesyri up top.
Sevilla are on a run of nine straight victories and seven consecutive clean sheets. They finished second in Champions League Group E, a point behind Chelsea and ahead of Krasnodar and Rennes. They’ll be hoping to lay down a marker with a victory at home in Seville to go into the second leg full of beans.
Sevilla have only reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League or European Cup twice, as per Diario AS. The first time was in the 1957/58 season. Sevilla beat Benfica and AGF Aarhus before losing to Real Madrid. They returned to the stage 60 years later, in 2017/18. They finished second behind Liverpool in the group stage before beating Manchester United in the last 16, only to lose to Bayern Munich in the quarter-final.