Barcelona vs Dortmund Champions League quarter-final first leg preview: Where to watch, predicted line-ups, team news

Barcelona host Borussia Dortmund in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final first leg on Wednesday 9 April at 21:00 CET.

Where to watch the game on TV

Fans can find their local UEFA Champions League broadcast partner(s) here.

What do you need to know?

Barcelona hold plenty of cards heading into this first leg. Hansi Flick's side were 3-2 winners at Dortmund on their way to finishing second in the league phase while they are unbeaten in their previous five UEFA competition matches against Dortmund (W3 D2). Unbeaten in 23 games, Barcelona can also count on the prolific duo of Raphinha and Robert Lewandowski in this competition, with the pair racking up 20 goals between them already. There may be one cause for concern though – they have lost five of their last six ties at this stage of the competition.

Flick was assistant at Bayern in 2018/19 to Niko Kovač, who has steadied the ship at Dortmund since taking the reins in January. His side have saved their best for this competition, seeing off Sporting CP and Lille in the knockout phase, and they won the away leg in both of those ties. BVB have also won four of their last five UEFA competition two-legged ties against Spanish teams, including a 5-4 aggregate victory against Atleti in last season's quarter-finals on their way to the showpiece. Write them off at your peril.

Possible line-ups

Barcelona: Szczęsny; Koundé, Cubarsí, Iñigo Martínez, Balde; De Jong, Pedri; Yamal, Fermín López, Raphinha; Lewandowski

Dortmund: Kobel; Ryerson, Can, Anton, Bensebaini; Nmecha, Chukwuemeka; Adeyemi, Brandt, Beier; Guirassy

Form guide

Barcelona

Form: DWWWWW
Latest: Barcelona 1-1 Real Betis, La Liga, 05/04

Dortmund

Form: WWLWLD
Latest: Freiburg 1-4 Dortmund, Bundesliga, 05/04

What the coaches say

Hansi Flick, Barcelona coach: "Dortmund are a very stable team and they play very attacking football. But we have been playing well at home and away in the Champions League. Niko [Kovač] will be able to field a good line-up [regardless of their injury situation]. They are strong defensively and I wish all the best to their injured players. They have very good players, and it is a shame [about their injuries], but they have enough players to cover their absences."

Niko Kovač, Dortmund coach: "We know each other well [he and Flick] and appreciate each other as people. We also know how we view each other's football. We're aware of the quality of Barcelona's forwards, and we'll have to defend well. We want to take advantage of their weaknesses and we come here to try to win the game. I think Barça are favourites tomorrow, but Dortmund played in last season's final. Anything is possible here. We're a bit of an underdog, but that doesn't necessarily work in Barcelona's favour."

Reporter's view

Graham Hunter, match reporter
Anyone who watched the humdinger in Germany between these two earlier this season will accept that, instead of winning 3-2, Barcelona could easily have been defeated. That will feature strongly in Hansi Flick’s briefing to his tired but tremendous team. There are injury absences but the prospect is that Dani Olmo might make the second leg. Spain's league leaders haven't simply been hard to beat this season, they’ve been thrilling – be prepared for another cracker.