5 memorable Borussia Dortmund games in the Champions League
Borussia Dortmund enjoyed their finest hour in the Champions League in 1997 when they beat defending champions Juventus 3-1 in the Munich final to become the fifth different winner of the tournament in as many seasons.
In their 15th season in the revamped competition, Dortmund have qualified as runners-up behind group-winners Barcelona in a group which had another former champion Internazionale.
Dortmund fell to a 0-4 aggregate defeat against Tottenham Hostpur at this stage of the competition last season. As BVB prepare to take on French champions Paris St. Germain in the Round of 16 of this season's competition, let us have a look at 5 memorable Champions League games involving Borussia Dortmund:
#1 1996-97 Final, Juventus 1:3 Borussia Dortmund
Having qualified from a group containing Atletico Madrid, Widzew Łódź and Steaua București, Dortmund beat French side Auxerre 4-1 on aggregate to set up a semifinal against Manchester United.
A pair of 1-0 victories in each leg took Dortmund to their first Champions League final, where defending champions Juventus lay in wait.
Dortmund started as the underdogs in the Munich final despite having beaten the Bianconeri in the group stage of the competition in the previous season. After dominating the opening exchanges, Dortmund took the lead at the half-hour mark when an unmarked Karl-Heinze Riedle slotted the ball past Juve keeper Angelo Peruzzi from close range.
Five minutes later it was 2-0 Dortmund, Riedle the goalscorer once again.
The defending champions sought an immediate riposte and almost pulled one back when Zinedine Zidane beat the Dortmund custodian Stefan Klos, but he couldn't beat the woodwork. Following a disallowed goal by Christian Vieri, halftime substitute Alessandro del Piero halved the arrears on the night midway through the second half.
Despite an intense spell of pressure from Juventus, the equaliser was not forthcoming. Instead it was Dortmund who put the game to bed when substitute Lars Ricken, with his first touch of the ball, produced an audacious 30-yard chip over a stunned Peruzzi.
In an interview ahead of Dortmund's Champions League final against Bayern Munich in 2013, Ricken admitted that he had spent the first 70 minutes of the game thinking about the very goal he would go on to score.
"I watched the first 70 minutes from the bench, and I noticed that [Angelo] Peruzzi was often standing too far from his goal," the homegrown hero recalled. "I came into the match with that in mind, thinking 'Peruzzi is too far out of goal, Peruzzi is too far out of goal'."