Well, the first leg of this Champions League quarterfinal between Malaga and Borussia Dortmund, two European underdogs, solved exactly nothing. They drew 0-0 in Spain last week, with Dortmund ruing a string of missed chances.
So that means that things have to be settled tonight. And, in one of those perversions created by the away goals rule, the advantage in Dortmund's Westfalenstadion actually lies with Malaga. Because the first leg was scoreless, any tie would be good enough to see the Spanish side through, provided it scores at least once. Even 0-0 wouldn't be a disaster, since it would force extra time and potentially penalty kicks.
For Dortmund, the task is just a clear. Win tonight and it could finally shake its tag of "dark horse for the discriminating Europhile" and cement its place among Europe's real contenders—even though it won the competition out of nowhere in 1997. This year's Dortmund side plays with a high-energy style that can trouble any of the remaining Champions League teams, just not Malaga in the first leg.
Neither team has much left to play for in their respective domestic leagues. Dortmund can't win the Bundesliga—Bayern Munich actually clinched it over the weekend—and the club's second place in the standings isn't under serious threat, so it knows it will be back in the Champions League next year. Malaga, meanwhile, is sixth in La Liga after some recent mediocre form, but it probably doesn't matter a whole lot since UEFA banned it from the next European competition it qualifies for—it's a long story about financial irregularities, Qatari royalty, and the Spanish tax man.
So while Real Madrid is expected to cruise into the semifinals in the evening's other game—Madrid travels to Galatasaray in Turkey holding a 3-0 advantage on aggregate—Malaga and Dortmund will be on hand to provide tonight's real drama.
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