BVB to face Atalanta in the play-offs: memories of Schmelzer's important goal

At the draw at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, BVB avoided a Bundesliga duel. The other possible opponent would have been Bayer Leverkusen. Instead, Borussia Dortmund will face an Italian opponent for the third time in the current Champions League season. At the start of the league phase, the Black & Yellows drew 4-4 away to Juventus, followed by a 2-0 home defeat to Inter Milan in their final match.

Atalanta were in pot two for the league-phase draw and have been a consistent and successful participant in European club competitions since 2017. In 2024, the club from Lombardy won the UEFA Europa League, preventing German double winners Bayer Leverkusen from achieving a treble. Last season, the club were knocked out in the play-offs. With four wins (2-1 against Club Brugge, 1-0 in Marseille, 3-0 in Frankfurt, 2-1 against Chelsea), one draw (0-0 against Prague) and three defeats (4-0 in Paris, 3-2 against Bilbao, 1-0 at Union Saint-Gilloise), head coach Raffaele Palladino's team (in office since November 2025) finished the league phase just ahead of BVB in 15th place.

Borussia Dortmund and Atalanta faced each other eight years ago in the round of 32 of the 2017/2018 UEFA Europa League. At SIGNAL IDUNA PARK, BVB came from 2-1 down to win 3-2 thanks to goals from Michy Batshuayi (65/90+1).But in a snowstorm in Bergamo, Marcel Schmelzer poked the ball over the line in the 83rd minute to make it 1-1 and secure a somewhat fortunate progression for BVB. Now, the 43rd and 44th European matches against Italian teams are coming up. The record from the last 11 encounters (three wins, four draws, four defeats) is close to balanced. It promises to be a contest between two evenly-matched sides.

UEFA will announce the exact kick-off times for the 16 play-off matches shortly. Advance sales for members for the home match on 17/18 February will start on Tuesday next week (3 February) at 12 noon, at the normal prices for single-match tickets. The date for advance ticket sales for the second leg has not yet been set and will be announced shortly on bvb.de, among other places.Boris Rupert