DORTMUND, Germany (AP) - Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund met four times last season in the Champions League and Dortmund won both home games, including a 4-1 win that led to Madrid’s elimination in the semifinals.
This time, Madrid holds a 3-0 lead from the first leg of the quarterfinals and the nine-time champion has never lost a Champions League tie after winning the opening leg by that score.
Here are five things to know before Tuesday’s match:
RONALDO TARGETS MESSI:
Cristiano Ronaldo needs just one goal to break the scoring record for a single Champions League season and pass Lionel Messi’s milestone.
The Ballon d’Or winner exited last week’s 3-0 win over Dortmund with a sore left knee after he found the net for a 14th time this campaign in Europe’s top club competition.
Ronaldo sat out his team’s Spanish league match on Saturday to recover, but he is back in the squad after training with his teammates on Sunday.
Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said Ronaldo was not feeling pain any more but that he would not take any risks. “If he is 100 percent he will play,” Ancelotti said.
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PLAN ’B’ FOR BALE:
If Ronaldo doesn’t make it back in time, Madrid can still field an imposing starting 11 featuring Gareth Bale as it searches for its fourth straight semifinal appearance.
Ronaldo has missed eight games this season, and Real Madrid has yet to lose once without him.
Bale scored another long-range goal for Madrid in its commanding 4-0 win at Real Sociedad this weekend while Ronaldo rested his leg.
The Wales winger has scored four goals in his last three games and has netted 18 times in all competitions, since his 100-million-euro move from Tottenham.
“Last Wednesday’s match at home was great, we played well and deserved to win, but it will be a different game in Dortmund,” Bale said. “They’ll come out fighting and we have to approach it like any other game, looking to win it and seal our place in the semifinals.”
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SCORING RUN:
Madrid has scored in 22 consecutive away matches in the Champions League. But it has also lost four of them - and three in Germany.
However, even if it loses 4-1 again as it did last season in Dortmund, Real will advance on away goals.
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LEWANDOWSKI BACK:
Borussia Dortmund’s striker Robert Lewandowski is back after sitting out the 3-0 loss in Madrid through suspension. Lewandowski scored all four goals in last season’s 4-1 home win over the Spanish side. The Poland striker tops the Bundesliga with 17 goals and has scored six in the Champions League.
“We still have a minimal chance. To score four goals again would be crazy, but we play at home and we are always dangerous at home,” Lewandowski said.
His value to Dortmund is also evident from another statistic - he has set up 11 goals in the Bundesliga and three in the Champions League.
“He is a great player and adds a lot of presence to the Dortmund team,” Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said.
Dortmund has won its last two Bundesliga matches by coming from behind in the second half. Coach Juergen Klopp believes there is still some hope against Real.
“We won’t give anything away,” Klopp said. “On Tuesday we want to play two second halves, and then we’ll see.”
“Our first goal is to win against a very good team and to play a passionate home game,” Klopp said. “We might fail to win, but we want a dignified farewell from the Champions League.”
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INJURY LIST:
Dortmund has been hit by a series of serious injuries that has ended the season of several key players, including defender Neven Subotic and midfielder Jakub Blaszczykowski, among others. At least six players from the lineup that beat Real 4-1 last season will be missing from Tuesday’s match.
In addition, captain Sebastian Kehl is suspended.
Dortmund midfielder Nuri Sahin is technically still a Madrid player, playing on loan against his former club. Sahin also may miss the match because of injury.
Madrid will be without defenders Marcelo and Alvaro Arbeloa, forward Jese Rodriguez, and midfielder Sami Khedira, all because of injury.
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