Tottenham vs. Borussia Dortmund: Areas Where the Tie Will Be Won and Lost

Considering their three-goal advantage, Borussia Dortmund could arguably take things relatively easy when they face Tottenham Hotspur on Thursday. The Black and Yellows were so dominant in the first leg of the UEFA Europa League round-of-16 tie in Signal Iduna Park that it's difficult to envision a scenario in which they miss the cut for the quarter-finals.

With 90 minutes of football left, however, it's never over.

As UEFA.com pointed out in February, a 3-0 deficit has been overturned as recently as the 2013/14 Europa League season, with Valencia coming back from a hefty defeat at Basel and beating the Swiss champions in extra time in the return leg.

Dortmund themselves almost overcame a three-goal deficit that same year in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, beating eventual winners Real Madrid 2-0 in the return leg and missing a number of chances to take the game to extra time.

However unlikely it may be, there's always a chance.

A lot will come down, of course, to how much manager Mauricio Pochettino goes for the seemingly impossible. The Argentinian manager showed a somewhat surprising disregard for the competition in the first leg, with no fewer than seven changes to his side that won a point in the north London derby.

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Pochettino might consider Spurs' comfortable win over Aston Villa at the weekend as validation for that strategy, but he could still give it a proper go at White Hart Lane on Thursday. With only one game—they host in-form Bournemouth—to go before the international break, there might be less of an inclination to rest key performers.

With that in mind, here are two areas that could decide the tie.

Midfield Battle

Dortmund bossed the centre of the pitch the entire 90 minutes in the first meeting. Twenty-year-old Julian Weigl was especially impressive as the orchestrator of his side's attacking moves in absence of Ilkay Gundogan.

Spielverlagerung.com's Tom Payne noted Weigl "had an excellent game as he displayed an intelligence rarely seen at his age," adding that "he was capable of both opening spaces for himself or, alternatively, making room for the integration of [Henrikh] Mkhitaryan or [Gonzalo] Castro" with clever dribbling.

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It has to be said, however, that Weigl did it against back-ups until Mousa Dembele entered the pitch as a substitute in the 58th minute. Neither Tom Carroll nor Ryan Mason got a foot on the ground at the Westfalenstadion—the double pivot in front of defence was dismantled time and time again by runs from the likes of Castro, Mkhitaryan or Marco Reus.

Gundogan will miss Thursday's return leg as well, not having made the trip to London, according to Sky Germany (via Dortmund-based football writer Stefan Buczko):

If Pochettino selects his best XI this time around, Weigl and his team-mates in midfield will be put to an entirely different test: Dembele played 90 minutes at Villa Park and should be good to start, while Eric Dier didn't even make the trip to Germany, and Dele Alli was suspended for the first leg.

Spurs' first-choice central-midfield trio won't get pushed around like their replacements did in Germany, and that would be an important first step in turning the tie around.

Dortmund's Defensive Plan

In a show of how much respect head coach Thomas Tuchel has for his counterpart's side, Dortmund started the first leg with five at the back, which was the same formation they used against Bayern Munich on the previous Bundesliga matchday.

With Pochettino's team not providing much of a threat in the early goings, however, the Black and Yellows dissolved their back line as the game went on: Lukasz Piszczek became more of a conventional full-back with Erik Durm pushing forward on the wing.

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The Black and Yellows returned to their regular 4-3-3 in the second half and added the vital second and third goals, while they still shut out Spurs, who managed only two or three half-chances despite Dortmund's more adventurous approach.

It still wouldn't be a surprise to see Tuchel opt for five at the back again, especially if Spurs play with their strongest front line. Harry Kane, remember, only played the last quarter of an hour at the Westfalenstadion.

Dortmund have only conceded three goals in 13 games in 2016—the least amount of goals Tottenham need to score to stay in the tie—so the Black and Yellows could allow themselves to sit back and wait for counter-attacking opportunities.

Lars Pollmann is a Featured Columnist writing on Borussia Dortmund. He also writes for YellowWallPod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.