Porto v Borussia Dortmund: Piszczek focused on making history

Borussia Dortmund full-back Lukasz Piszczek is keen to keep the club on course to complete a full set of European trophies in the second leg of their Europa League clash against Porto.

Poland full-back Piszczek opened the scoring after only six minutes when the sides met at Signal Iduna Park last week, with Marco Reus sealing a 2-0 triumph after the break.

Should Thomas Tuchel’s men go all the way and claim the Europa League title, they would become the fifth club in history to lift all three major season-long European competitions, having won the 1996-97 Champions League and the now defunct Cup Winners’ Cup in 1965-66.

“We know there is a trophy to win at the end and we want to get it in our hands,” Piszczek told Sport 1.

“It’s only half-time [in the tie]. We know that it will not be easy in Porto, but if we play as focused and structured as in the home game, then we have a good chance to get ahead.

“I have heard a very good atmosphere exists [at Estadio do Dragao], but we know about that already from our own stadium.

“We are used to it and we will be well prepared for this game.”

Tuchel is set to welcome back key man Ilkay Gundogan, who missed the first leg and Sunday’s 1-0 Bundesliga win at Bayer Leverkusen through illness.

Centre-back Sokratis Papastathopoulos sustained a groin injury at the weekend and will be sidelined for three weeks, with Neven Subotic favourite to replace the Greece international in Portugal.

Porto boss Jose Peseiro should have a fully-fit squad to choose from and made six changes for the weekend match against Moreirense, where they were forced to come from 2-0 down to win 3-2 on home turf.

Defender Maxi Pereira and midfielder Danilo Pereira are available once more having served European suspensions in the first leg, while Ruben Neves missed out versus Moreirense due to a domestic ban.

Evandro came off the bench to net the winner and was encouraged to see Porto call upon their battling qualities, with more of the same required to upset the odds against Dortmund.

“It was a display of determination. We played with soul, with character, as we knew we couldn’t lose,” he told the club’s official website. “We tried to stay calm as we knew we have enough quality.”

Porto are attempting to win the Europa League for the third time this century having prevailed in the 2003 and 2011 finals against Celtic and Braga respectively.