Borussia Dortmund will continue their quest for a spot in the UEFA Champions League knockout stages when they travel to Italy to face Bologna for the penultimate game of the league phase on Tuesday (kick-off: 9pm CET).

• Can teams add to their European squads during the January transfer window?
• Could the Bundesliga earn a fifth Champions League qualifier again?
• Watch every Dortmund goal in the Bundesliga this season
• See how German clubs are faring in Europe in 2024/25

Domestically, it has been a difficult start to 2025 for Dortmund, who have lost each of their past three Bundesliga matches. The visit to Italy, though, gives them the opportunity to concentrate on a competition where they have enjoyed a solid campaign. With two games remaining of the league phase, they are just one point adrift of the top eight and a place in the last 16, and three points here would boost their chances of securing that. The good news for Nuri Şahin is that he will have an almost full squad at his disposal for this clash besides Niklas Süle, who is continuing his recovery from an ankle issue, and the suspended Ramy Bensebaini. After missing the defeat to Holstein Kiel due to illness, Karim Adeyemi came on from the bench against Eintracht Frankfurt and could be given a start here, while Serhou Guirassy and Jamie Gittens will be the Black-Yellows' danger men as they have often been this term. Şahin chose a back three for the first time this season against Frankfurt, so it remains to be seen whether he deploys the same system here.

In the Champions League for the first time in their history, Bologna suffered a difficult summer that saw them lose star players Joshua Zirkzee and Riccardo Calafiori to the English Premier League, while head coach Thiago Motta departed for Juventus. However, after failing to win any of their first five matches in all competitions, they have recovered well to move up to seventh in Serie A. On the European stage, though, they are yet to win and must pick up six points in their final two league phase matches to have any chance of progression. Riccardo Orsolini and Santiago Castro are the Italian outfit's leading goalscorers and must be given a short leash by the Dortmund backline, while observant fans will remember defender Stefan Posch from his Hoffenheim days prior to his switch to Italy.

Watch: Guirassy & Gittens - Dortmund’s double G-Force

Match stats

• Beaten finalists last season, Dortmund won eight of 13 Champions League fixtures across the 2024 calendar year (D1, L4).
• Since losing the 2012/13 final to Bayern Munich, BVB have reached the knockout rounds eight times out of 10.
• Guirassy has six goals in this season’s Champions League. Only former Dortmund striker Robert Lewandowski has scored more (seven) ahead of Matchday 7.
• Four-goal Gittens is the second highest-scoring Englishman in the 2024/25 Champions League behind Bayern striker Harry Kane (five goals).
• Dortmund are playing Bologna for the first time. Their UEFA competition record against their 10 previous Italian opponents reads: W12, D7, L20.
• Bologna have faced a team from Germany only once before, drawing home and away to Vorwärts Berlin in the 1970/71 Cup Winners' Cup first round.

Probable teams

Bologna: Ravaglia - Posch, Beukema, Lucumi, Miranda - Ferguson (c), Freuler - Orsolini, Odgaard, Ndoye - Castro
Out: Aebischer (muscle)
Doubtful: Cambiaghi (knee), El Azzouzi (knee)
Coach: Vincenzo Italiano

Dortmund: Kobel - Couto, Anton, Schlotterbeck, Ryerson - Nmecha, Groß - Adeyemi, Brandt (c), Gittens - Guirassy
Out: Bensebaini (suspended), Süle (ankle)
Doubtful: - 
Coach: Nuri Şahin

LIVE blog

VS

Bologna

Tue, 21.01 20:00

Dortmund

Champions League
League phase, Matchday 7 League phase, Matchday 7 Stadio Renato Dall'Ara, Bologna

3:46

Gittens, Guirassy important

BVB can look to their attacking pair as they seek to advance their ambitions in the Champions League. Prior to the winter break, Serhou Guirassy and Jamie Gittens provided the collective spark for some of Dortmund's best moments of the campaign to date.

Bologna struggling

In contrast to BVB's Champions League form, Bologna have yet to post a win in the competition and have collected just two draws to date. The Italians - seventh in Serie A - did have top scorer Riccardo Orsolini on target again at the weekend, however, with the Rossoblù returning to winning ways on the domestic front thanks to a 3-1 victory against Monza.

© IMAGO/Massimo Paolone/LaPresse

Strong start

Dortmund burst out of the blocks in this season's UEFA Champions League, last season's runners-up posting four wins in their opening five games (only losing to holders Real Madrid) while scoring 16 goals. A loss against Barcelona on Matchday 6 left BVB outside of the automatic qualification places (9th) for the first time. Yet with games against Bologna and Shakhtar Donetsk still to play, Die Schwarzgelben are still well set.

© IMAGO/Noah Wedel

2:03

Seeking inspiration

A last win on the road, and their first in the Bundesliga this season, just prior to the winter break might serve as a lesson BVB could follow as they head to the Stadio Renato Dall'Ara this week. On that occasion, a free-flowing Black-and-Yellow team put Wolfsburg to the sword.

Big week for BVB

What Borussia supporters would give for a Champions League fillip this week and a trip to Bologna represents an opportunity for the Bundesliga team to put recent travails behind them. A run of three straight German top-flight losses is not how Nuri Şahin wanted his team to start the New Year, but pushing for automatic Champions League qualification might soothe some of the recent pain.

© IMAGO/Malte Ossowski/SVEN SIMON

Welcome!

Thanks for joining us for build-up and live coverage of Borussia Dortmund's seventh UEFA Champions League game of the 2024/25 league phase away at Bologna on Tuesday.

Want more Bundesliga Action?

GET THE UPDATES!

About the clubs

Borussia Dortmund

SIGNAL IDUNA PARK