Borussia Dortmund Face Odds Ballklubb and Gruelling Europa League Campaign Ahead

Borussia Dortmund would have been thanking their lucky stars on Friday afternoon when the UEFA draw for the Europa League play-offs confirmed that the Bundesliga side would be making the relatively short journey to Skien, Norway to face Tippeligaen side Odds Ballklubb. 

Although the Norwegian side will hope to prove themselves against the might of the former German champions, Thomas Tuchel will be glad that a potential banana skin, such as Rosenborg, Brondby or Astra Giurgiu, was completely avoided. 

For Tuchel, the Europa League offers an interesting conundrum. The new manager has been brought in to initially stabilise the side before reentering the club into the top seven places in the German top division. Regardless of what happens between now and May, the former Mainz coach will be judged on where Dortmund are in the Bundesliga at the end of the season.

As such, any European campaign may offer a huge amount of reward for the vast majority of the Westfalenstadion faithful who are still grateful for any continental football at all after last season. Yet with it comes an even bigger risk of a second campaign altering the fitness of Tuchel's squad and ultimately jeopardising a prioritised Bundesliga season. 

The new Dortmund manager need only look at the teams around him in this season's campaign to see how much damage a relatively harmless Europa League run can do to a club's domestic form. 

Martin Meissner/Associated Press

Borussia Monchengladbach, a club meticulously well-run and well-coached by Lucien Favre, put on an impressive showing in last season's Bundesliga, yet many fans must have wanted to finish the league season in third place and wondered what could have been had they avoided their Europa League run. 

Like Dortmund, the Foals marched through the group stages before getting knocked out by eventual winners, Sevilla. By that time, it was late February and the continental competition had already added on an extra 10 games to Favre's calendar. It had begun to take its toll on his small squad. 

After going their first 10 Bundesliga games undefeated, Gladbach lost three games in a row in November and dropped from third place to sixth. Favre's team responded well with wins over Hertha Berlin and Werder Bremen, but then came further defeats to Augsburg and Schalke. By the time Europe had waved farewell to Gladbach, the club were no longer keeping pace with Wolfsburg but rather fighting for their lives to stay in the top four. 

Favre's side played their last Europa League game on February 26, and although the Borussia Park faithful would have been upset at their defeat, there's no denying that elimination at that point ensured their Champions League qualification for this coming season.

The Foals would regain their fitness and resolve and from that point on lost only one Bundesliga match from their remaining 12, a final-day clash with Mainz that by then meant very little to the final standings of the league table. Gladbach had secured Champions League football in spite of their Europa League campaign. 

To fast-forward back to the present, Dortmund fans would undoubtedly bite your arm off for a third-place finish yet many would also favour a similar Europa League run. Considering the spirit of Tuchel's arrival at the club, one would assume he would too, yet such ambition should come with a notable warning. 

Gladbach earned their third-place finish yet Favre would probably admit it would have been a lot easier had his side not taken to the Europa League with such romantic ferocity and desire for silverware.

Dortmund travel to Norway on August 20 for their first leg against Odds in the Europa League play-offs.

There a limited side will probably put up little resistance to the likes of Marco Reus and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Yet what lies beyond them, in the enticing world of European football, is where Tuchel and his side will have to be wary and ultimately be at their very best to ensure another domestic campaign doesn't fall apart. 

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