The damage was well and truly done in the first leg of Sporting and Borussia Dortmund's Champions League playoff tie, as a dominant 3-0 win for the German giants meant that the 2023-24 runners-up simply needed to avoid a home implosion to seal safe passage into the last 16.

A dull 0-0 draw in the return fixture suited BVB down to the ground as they made the last 16 for the sixth time in their last seven appearances in the Champions League, which has often provided a safe haven this season amid their prolonged Bundesliga struggles.

However, with Niko Kovac now at the wheel, Dortmund are finally looking more like their usual selves again in the German top flight, following up a 6-0 slaughter of Union Berlin on February 22 with a comfortable 2-0 success at home to St Pauli on Saturday.

The ever-clinical Serhou Guirassy - leading the way in the Champions League scoring charts with 10 goals - broke the deadlock before Karim Adeyemi put the icing on the cake, as Dortmund finally won back-to-back Bundesliga games for the first time this season.

Despite their mini-revival, Kovac's men are still entrenched in mid-table and have plenty of ground to make up on the teams above them, so going one better than they did in last year's Champions League could still prove to be their best path to the 2025-26 tournament.

Hoping to prolong the home woes of a Dortmund side who have only won two of their last nine competitive contests at the Signal Iduna Park, Lille have their sights set on club history over these two legs, having never progressed further than the last-16 stage of the Champions League.

From progressing through qualifying to placing seventh in the 36-team league phase, the 2020-21 Ligue 1 champions have enjoyed quite the adventure in this year's edition of the competition, notably taking down both Madrid giants and dismantling Feyenoord 6-1 in the league phase.

An unparalleled ruthlessness in the final third was to thank for Lille's direct advancement to the last eight, as Bruno Genesio's men converted 22.7% of their chances in the league phase - the best rate of all teams - but they were taught an attacking lesson on Saturday night.

Indeed, Lille were comprehensively conquered 4-1 by Paris Saint-Germain in the French top flight, although Jonathan David's late consolation at least extended Les Dogues' scoring streak to 11 matches in all competitions before a long-awaited Signal Iduna Park reunion.

When Dortmund and Lille collide on Tuesday night, it will mark the first match between the two UCL hopefuls in over 22 years, having only met before in the 2001-02 UEFA Cup last 16; the German outfit advanced on away goals following a 1-1 aggregate draw over two legs.

Borussia Dortmund possible starting lineup:

Kobel; Couto, Can, Schlotterbeck, Bensebaini; Sabitzer, Gross; Adeyemi, Brandt, Gittens; Guirassy

Lille possible starting lineup:

Chevalier; Meunier, Diakite, Alexsandro, Gudmundsson; Andre, Bouaddi; Haraldsson, Angel Gomes, Bakker; David