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.
Borussia Dortmund vs Chelsea H2H record
The first leg of the 2022/23 Champions League last 16 tie was the first time Dortmund and Chelsea had ever met in competitive competition.
It was BVB who drew first blood to take a 1-0 lead to Stamford Bridge. Karim Adeyemi’s strike on the counter attack settled the contest, with the Blues wasting a number of presentable chances on the night.
Borussia Dortmund vs Chelsea H2H record
Borussia Dortmund wins: 1
Chelsea wins: 0
Draws: 0
When Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea almost met
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's Champions League record vs German clubs
Chelsea 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 meetings with German sides, Chelsea have come up against Schalke, Dortmund's fiercest rivals, the most often. The Blues are unbeaten in six Champions League matches against their similarly azure opponents, winning four.
In fact, Schalke have only ever scored one goal against Chelsea, with Klaas-Jan Huntelaar cancelling out Cesc Fabregas' opener in a 2014 group-stage draw.
Chelsea have duked it out with Bayern Munich five times, including the 2012 final. Didier Drogba forced extra time with an 88th-minute equaliser before scoring the winning penalty in the shootout.
Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rumminegge described the "pain within our club" as "stronger than it was after we lost to Manchester United in the final of 1999", when the Red Devils snatched victory with a pair of stoppage-time strikes.
Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea's European pedigree
Borussia's CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke once sneered: "Chelsea have not been around long in terms of European football." Ron 'Chopper' Harris may have something to say about that. The infamously fearsome defender lifted the Cup Winners' Cup in 1971 after leading Chelsea to victory over Real Madrid.
Dortmund, admittedly, had won the same pot five years earlier, defeating Bill Shankly's Liverpool at Hampden Park. Dortmund's only other continental title came in 1997. Michael Zorc, who would later work closely with Watzke as Dortmund's long-term sporting director, came off the bench as Borussia beat Marcelo Lippi's star-studded Juventus team in the Champions League final.
In 1998, Chelsea won their second Cup Winners' Cup but the Blues have struck a rich vein of form in European football over the past decade. In the ten seasons between 2011/12 and 2020/21, Chelsea won two Champions League titles and a pair of Europa Leagues.
Dortmund are yet to add to their European silverware collection in the 21st century.