Arsenal vs Borussia Dortmund Tickets

The Emirates Stadium has been the home of the Gunners since 2006, and this 60,000-seater venue comes to life on Champions League nights.

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Arsenal vs Borussia Dortmund History

You could say that Arsenal are among the ‘nearly-men’ of the UEFA Champions League, having participated in the tournament on countless occasions, especially in the modern era, but have never managed to get over the line in their pursuit of the ultimate goal, namely a UEFA Champions League title.

Under Arsene Wenger, their involvement in the competition was almost taken for granted by all, including their supporters, so that when the French boss left the club and they missed out on the competition for six years, it felt very tough to take indeed.

From 2003/04 to 2016/17, Arsenal never once failed to qualify for the UEFA Champions League and always qualified from the group stage. Then, invariably, they’d get tumbled out by the first European giant they faced. Over this period, they lost to FC Barcelona and Bayern Munich four times each, with one defeat against the Bundesliga behemoths being a particularly horrendous 10-2 aggregate loss.

Defeats against fellow Premier League sides Chelsea, Liverpool, and Manchester United have also burned the club, but their 2006 final loss to FC Barcelona will certainly feel like one of the worst nights in the club’s European history.

They were reduced to ten men in Paris after just 18 minutes when keeper Jens Lehmann was ordered off, but they still went in at half-time with the lead given to them by defender Sol Campbell. Then, with 17 minutes left, FC Barcelona got back in gear thanks to the addition of Swede Henrik Larsson on as a sub; the Catalan side netted first through Samuel Eto’o and then Juliano Belletti to clinch the trophy.

Similarly, Borussia Dortmund have been a regular attendee at the top table of European football since the turn of the century, and that comes after they won their first-ever title in 1996/97 in Munich.

Ottmar Hitzfeld, who later went on to manage Bayern Munich and lead the Bavarian side to six Bundesliga titles and a UEFA Champions League crown, saw Die Borussen take the lead through Karl-Heinz Riedle after 29 minutes, and the one-time Liverpool man then made it two just five minutes later to put the Germans in control.

Alessandro Del Piero got Juventus back in the game midway through the second half, only for Lars Ricken to put away a third soon after to see Dortmund home and dry.

Generally speaking, since then, Borussia Dortmund have experienced a great deal of heartache in the competition. 1997/98 saw them knocked out by Real Madrid in the Semi-Finals, and in 2012/13, they lurched to a loss to arch-rivals Bayern Munich at Wembley Stadium, that painful defeat coming courtesy of a late Arjen Robben winner.

2016/17 saw a surprise exit at the hands of Ligue 1 side AS Monaco at the Quarter-Final stage, and 2020/21 saw them lose to Manchester City in the same round.

Arsenal vs Borussia Dortmund Head-to-Head

Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund have regularly faced each other in the UEFA Champions League, and their first meetings took place in 2002/03 in the group stage.

At Highbury, goals from Dennis Bergkamp and Freddie Ljungberg saw Arsene Wenger’s side clinch a comfortable win. In the reverse fixture, Thierry Henry gave the Gunners the lead, but a Gilberto Silva own goal and a penalty from Tomas Rosicky, who went on to play for Arsenal, gave the Westfalenstadion side’s home fans something to celebrate.

Nine years later, they met again in the group stage, with the two playing out a 1-1 draw in Germany and a Robin van Persie brace getting Arsenal a 2-1 home win.

In 2013/14, the draw placed the two sides together once again, with Jurgen Klopp’s side winning in North London 2-1 and Aaron Ramsey scoring the only goal of the game in Dortmund.

2014/15 was another pair or group stage games, both of which ended in 2-0 wins for the home team, with the teams finishing one and two, in Borussia’s favour, in the table to both secure qualification to the knockout phase.

Arsenal vs Borussia Dortmund Connections

A number of players have represented both Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund, including Armenian international Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Gabon forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, but perhaps the most accomplished player to do so is Czech Republic midfielder Tomas Rosicky.

The talented playmaker earned the moniker of “The Little Mozart” during his time in Germany, and Rosicky certainly impressed over the course of his five and a half seasons at Borussia Dortmund. He made 189 appearances over the course of his time at the club, scoring 24 goals, and won the Bundesliga title in 2001/02 before moving to Arsenal in May 2006.

At the Premier League club, he racked up a total of 247 appearances for Arsene Wenger’s side, scoring 28 goals and winning an FA Cup winners’ medal in 2013/14. He left in 2016 to rejoin Sparta Prague, where he started his glittering career.

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