Dortmund into Champions League Last
16 after Sporting Draw

Dortmund, 20 Feb (ONA) — Borussia
Dortmund clinched their spot in the UEFA Champions League last 16 after a
goalless draw against Sporting in the second leg of their knockout play-off
tie.

The return leg was a formality after
the German side posted a comprehensive 3-0 victory in Lisbon last week with
goals from Serhou Guirassy, Pascal Gross and Karim Adeyemi.

Dortmund were dominant and had the
chance to break the deadlock when they won a penalty in the second half after
Rui Silva’s challenge on Adeyemi, but the Sporting goalkeeper made amends by
keeping out Guirassy’s spot-kick, BBC sports reported.

The hosts, who lost last season’s
final to Real Madrid at Wembley, will face Aston Villa or Lille in the
two-legged last-16 tie next month.

Sporting, league leaders in Portugal
by two points, were a big disappointment and never looked like clawing back the
deficit.

They made five changes for the
return leg with their top scorer Viktor Gyokeres and winger Francisco Trincao
not even in the travelling squad, while Niko Kovac named an unchanged Dortmund
starting line-up.

Sporting showed little intent going
forward and it took 27 minutes for the game to produce its first shot on target
as Dortmund midfielder Marcel Sabitzer let fly a venomous strike from the edge
of the box that was parried behind by Silva.

Guirassy, the leading scorer in this
season’s Champions League with 10 goals, then fired straight at Silva, before
Sabitzer sent another effort sail over the goal as a quiet first half came to a
close.

The Sporting custodian was tested by
Adeyemi soon after the restart and then saved spectacularly from Daniel
Svensson before he stopped Guirassy’s low 58th-minute penalty.

Giovanni Reyna, fresh off the bench,
then hit the post for the home side, while captain Emre Can had a close-range
header ruled out for offside as new boss Kovac remained winless at home after
two games.

— Ends/Khalid