Borussia Dortmund vs Chelsea head-to-head record

The modern iterations of Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea adopt wildly contrasting approaches to running a football club.

Borussia were forced into the mould of Europe’s finishing school for the continent’s finest talent ever since teetering on the brink of financial catastrophe in 2004.

The year before, Roman Abramovich acquired Chelsea, transforming the west London club into one of the richest in Europe overnight. Toddy Boehly and Clearlake Capital have since taken over and spent even more freely than the Russian oligarch.

These differing styles have both brought success – although, the trophies, much like the cash, have flowed more readily at Stamford Bridge.

These two extremes of modern football have never met on the pitch but that’s not to say that their history isn’t intertwined.

At the end of the 1999/2000 season, Borussia Dortmund finished third in their Champions League group, two points behind Feyenoord. The Dutch club were drawn with Chelsea for the second group stage, a monotonous interlude in the competition’s formatting history.

Had Borussia been able to turn one of their 1-1 draws with Feyenoord into wins, they would have come up against the Londoners all the way back at the turn of the century.

Undoubtedly, the closest these clubs ever got to a Champions League meeting came in 2012/13. Chelsea finished with the same points as Shakhtar Donetsk in group E but were nudged into third because they scored fewer away goals across their two matches with the Ukrainian side.

And so, while the reigning Champions League holders were ushered into the Europa League, Shakhtar prepared to face Borussia in the last 16.

Dortmund navigated their way past Shakhtar en route to their first Champions League final since winning the big-eared trophy in 1997. Whereas Chelsea had been able to beat Bayern Munich in the 2012 final – at Bayern’s home ground no less – Borussia lost 2-1 to their Bundesliga rivals at Wembley Stadium.

As Chelsea won the 2013 Europa League, the pair would have met in that summer’s UEFA Super Cup had Borussia beaten Bayern.

Chelsea have contested 19 matches against six different German clubs in the Champions League before meeting Borussia Dortmund. Two minutes into Chelsea’s first-ever continental clash with a German side they fell behind.

Ali Daei steered a powerful header past Ed de Goey with barely 100 seconds on the clock before nabbing a second as Hertha BSC earned a 2-1 group-stage victory over the Londoners in 1999.

Across their various…