After facing Red Bull Salzburg and Dinamo Zagreb for the first time in Champions League competition in the group stage this season, Chelsea have been paired with another new opponent in Borussia Dortmund for the last 16 in the new year.
It is the first time the Blues have faced German opposition since the last 16 ties with Bayern Munich in 2020 under Frank Lampard, and are hoping to progress past the first knockout round for the third year running.
There are going to be some obvious narratives around this game, one being midfielder Jude Bellingham playing against a top English club, given the amount of transfer speculation linking him to a Premier League move.
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Other than that, the tie offers some reunions for players of both clubs. On the Chelsea side, Christian Pulisic and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang return to Signal Iduna Park after sharing the same dressing room before Aubameyang departed for Arsenal in 2018. Pulisic moved to Dortmund at the age of 16 after being scouted by the Bundesliga club after impressing displays for the United States' under-17 squad.
He came through their academy before making his Bundesliga debut in 2016 and soon netted his first goal for the club, becoming the youngest non-German and fourth-youngest player to score a goal in the Bundesliga at 17 years and 212 days old. He, with Aubameyang, was involved in the 2017 DFB Pokal win over Frankfurt, where he won the penalty that Aubameyang scored to clinch the cup.
Of course, Pulisic would then make his £58m switch to west London in the summer of 2019 after a move was finalised the previous January. Aubameyang scored 141 goals in 213 appearances for Dortmund after signing from Saint-Etienne in 2013.
The other link here is Thorgan Hazard, brother of Eden, who joined Chelsea's academy the same summer his brother signed from Lille. Thorgan had come from Lens and was soon loaned out to Belgian side Zulte Waregem before permanently departing the club in 2015 to Borussia Monchengladbach after another loan spell with Die Fohlen.
All three will likely be involved in February when the teams meet for the first leg, which is set to take place on Wednesday 15th, with the return fixture at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday 7th, March 2023.
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