Knockout Stage of Champions League Is Minimum Aim for Borussia Dortmund

Of all the things fans of Borussia Dortmund looked forward to at the dawn of the 2016/17 campaign, the return of UEFA Champions League football for the Black and Yellows probably took the biscuit.

There's a special magic about football's premier club competition, and one year in the UEFA Europa League will only have intensified that magic for the Dortmund faithful.

Quite simply, there's a massive difference between playing Real Madrid at Santiago Bernabeu and travelling thousands of miles to face Azerbaijani side FK Qabala in front of 9,000 spectators on a Thursday evening.

The Ruhr side's performances reflected the lesser standing of a competition clubs, fans and UEFA itself seem to treat as an orphan, especially in the group stage. Dortmund only came in second place despite facing minnows Qabala, FC Krasnodar and PAOK Saloniki.

In return, they got a meeting with FC Porto—which could just as well have been a Champions League round-of-16 match. Having swept away the Portuguese giants and Tottenham Hotspur one round later, a meeting with former head coach Jurgen Klopp and his Liverpool side brought the defining moment of Dortmund's European campaign.

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Unfortunately, a fateful night at Anfield will only be remembered for the wrong reasons, with Thomas Tuchel's side inexplicably collapsing. Despite leading 2-0 after just nine minutes and 3-1 with 25 to play, Dortmund crumbled under pressure and crashed out of the competition they were heavily favoured to win before the quarter-finals started.

Failure in Europe was arguably the biggest blemish on a fantastic maiden campaign at the helm for Tuchel. The 43-year-old will make his Champions League debut with Dortmund and, even though there's nothing to suggest he can't handle the competition, his side have yet to prove they can win the big games.

Of course, first there's a group stage to navigate.

The luck of the draw sided with Black and Yellows, who will face Legia Warsaw, Sporting CP and holders Real in Group F.

They will open at Legia on Wednesday in a match they'll be expected to win, quite comfortably at that. The Polish champions have made an abysmal start to the campaign, sitting 13th of 16 teams after eight matchdays with only nine points.

Head coach Besnik Hasi is no stranger for Dortmund, seeing as the Albanian coached RSC Anderlecht when the two teams met in 2014.

His current team are among the biggest underdogs in recent Champions League memory after qualifying against Zrinjski Mostar from Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovakian champions AS Trencin and Dundalk FC—not exactly a stellar row of opponents.

THOMAS KIENZLE/Associated Press

Legia are the first side from Poland to make it to the group stage since Widzew Lodz managed the rare feat in the 1996/97 season. Perhaps a good omen for Dortmund, Lodz, who are now playing in the fourth division after going bankrupt, were in their group during that campaign, which ended in the club's biggest success to date, a 3-1 win in the final over Juventus in Munich.

Anything other than two decisive victories against Legia will be considered massive failure for Dortmund and, really, the other two sides in Group F as well.

Sporting offer much more of a challenge, although the Verdes e Brancos have not made much of a mark in the Champions League in recent years, having made it to the group stage for only the second time since the 2009/10 season.

Dortmund and Sporting haven't met before, but the Lions' record against German teams should encourage the Black and Yellow faithful. Per Transfermarkt, Sporting have won just two of 23 matches against teams from Germany, including one win in 10 tries in the Champions League.

Many fans will remember the spanking Sporting endured against Bayern Munich in 2009, when the Bavarian giants beat them 12-1 on aggregate in the round of 16.

The same can't be expected from Dortmund, of course. In goalkeeper Rui Patricio and midfielders William Carvalho and Adrien Silva, head coach Jorge Jesus can bank on three players who won Euro 2016 with Portugal. 

The 62-year-old knows a thing or two about European competitions, having led Benfica to Europa League finals in 2013 and 2014—even though, of course, he couldn't overcome the curse of Bela Guttmann.

Known as a feeder club to the continent's true behemoths, Sporting and Dortmund shared the sorrow of losing key players in the recent summer transfer window, with the Portuguese selling midfielder Joao Mario to Inter Milan and striker Islam Slimani to Leicester City to the tune of €70 million, per Transfermarkt.

Having replaced the latter with middling Bundesliga strikers Bas Dost from VfL Wolfsburg and Luc Castaignos from Eintracht Frankfurt, Sporting seem decisively weakened ahead of the Champions League campaign.

Because of that, many expect Dortmund to qualify for the next round without much difficulty, leaving the fight for the top spot with Los Galacticos.

Fans probably hoped for more diversion, seeing as Dortmund have faced no other team as often as Real in the Champions League, with six of the 10 meetings between the two clubs coming since 2012. The Black and Yellows have a positive record in those matches, winning all three home games, including a 4-1 semi-final win in 2013 that went down in Dortmund lore.

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It would arguably have been more interesting to see the Ruhr side against FC Barcelona for the first time, or against Paris Saint-Germain or Atletico Madrid, but Los Merengues are the quintessential Champions League side: There couldn't be a more fitting opponent for the first rendition of the anthem at Westfalenstadion after a one-year abstinence.

The record champions are favourites to win the group, but Dortmund have always done well as the underdogs. If nothing else, they ought to come in second comfortably.

After that, all bets are off, as the luck of the draw can make all the difference.

Winning the group doesn't have to be a huge advantage, as, even though the recent changes in the seeding of clubs in the first pot have all but eliminated the classic "group of death," there are a few groups with two bonafide contenders for final honours in Cardiff—for instance, Group C has Barcelona and Manchester City, while Group D pairs Bayern with Atletico.

Given the wholesale changes Dortmund had to make over the summer, with no fewer than eight signings making up for the losses of key players Mats Hummels, Ilkay Gundogan and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, expectations for the Champions League shouldn't be too high.

They have to make it out of their group; everything else should be considered a bonus. With so many young players without much experience at this level and a coach making his first steps as well, the quarter-finals would already be a big accomplishment.

If nothing else, it should be an enjoyable ride for their fans. And who knows? Maybe the Champions League offers some more magic nights for the Black and Yellows. Dortmund have had their fair share of those.

Lars Pollmann also writes for YellowWallPod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.