Lets get ready to rumble

Finally Europe. After years of abstinence in the European competition Borussia Dortmund qualified for the group stage of the Uefa Europa-League. As hoped for the participation in the Europa-League is guaranteed at least until Christmas. Two convincing wins against FK Agdam Qarabaq were the key to success. But let's get started now with the upcoming match, enjoy these magic international evenings and stop looking back! This is the point of no return!

The start of the season was pretty well, with exception of the home opener against Leverkusen our beloved Black and Yellows solved their tasks. At the moment there is not the hell of a lot things you could complain about, the only very negative subject is once more a new injury of Dortmund legend Leonardo Dede. According to team doctor Markus Braun, Dede will be out of action for about two weeks again. In addition to Dede coach Jürgen Klopp has to go without Hungarian Tamas Hajnal, who has a torn muscle fiber and long-term casualty Florian Kringe. It is to be expected that there will be no great surprises in the starting line-up of Borussia Dortmund. To cut the matter short: no great sorrows in Dortmund.

But now let's have a look at the great unknown. When you heard about the draw result of the group stage surely quite a few people including me thought "Karpaty what?". Well, here is a short presentation of Lviv. The city is located in the West of the Ukraine and probably one of the most beautiful cities in the country. Palaces and historic buildings characterize the metropolis who has a population of 700,000. The region had to undergo a lof of changes in the past centuries, its advantageous location 80 kilometres next to Poland and Belarus led to territorial struggles. No surprise that since the city founding Lviv already belonged to Poland, Galicia, the Soviet Union and after the breakdown of the Soviet Union finally to the Ukraine. Lviv is seen as the secret capital of the Ukraine and a perfect example for multiculturality because of its location between Europe and Asia. The historic city center is part of the UNESCO World Cultural Heritage, the opera and the "Boim" chapel are to be recommended. So when you are travelling to Lviv, do not forget to visit its sights!

At this point I want to stop the historical and cultural excursion and concentrate on FC Karpaty Lviv. Last year the Ukrainian team reached the 5th place of the Ukrainian Premier League, they are currently ranked on the 4th place. The team of Borussia Dortmund should be well advised to not underestimate his next opponent. In the Europa League-qualifier Karpaty Lviv was able to eliminate
the well known Turkish club Galatasary Istanbul within two heavy matches.

The time has come. For matches and travels like these all of us waited for a long time. Europe be prepared!

Let's get ready to rumble!

Line-ups:

Borussia Dortmund: Weidenfeller - Owomoyela, Subotic, Hummels, Schmelzer - Kehl, Sahin - Kuba, Kagawa, Großkreutz - Barrios.

FC Karpaty Lviv: Tlumak - Petrivsky, Milosevic, Tubic (Checher), Danilo Avelar - Godwin - Khudobyak, Holodyuk - Zenjov, Kozhanov - Kopolovets (Batista)

Referee: Claudio Circhetta (Swiss)

Kickoff: 16th of September - 21:05 p.m. CET

Attendance: Stadion Ukrajina, which can be home for 28.051 people during European competition. There will probably be 700 supporters of Borussia Dortmund.

derjungemitdemball, 15.09.2010