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Why the Midfield Battle Will Be the Key to Porto vs. Borussia Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund enter Thursday's return leg of the UEFA Europa League round-of-32 tie with FC Porto in a fairly comfortable position, with a 2-0 home victory in the bag.

It's not an insurmountable lead by any means, however, and the Black and Yellows will have to be prepared for a Porto side that'll look completely different to the one they faced in Signal Iduna Park.

On that day, Jose Peseiro's team was surprisingly negative—almost destructive, even— showing "no intention to turn the match into an open battle," as tactics blogger Constantin Eckner stated after the game (in German), adding that "Porto travelled to Dortmund with only one strategy in mind: keeping the score as low as possible.