Preview: Borussia Dortmund vs. Union Berlin - prediction, team news, lineups

Borussia Dortmund take on Union Berlin in the Bundesliga on Wednesday, with the hosts looking to win in order to keep their hopes of finishing inside the Champions League positions alive.

Union Berlin, meanwhile, are aiming to qualify for the Europa League, and can move three points behind Dortmund with a win.

Match preview

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Dortmund kept their hopes of finishing inside the top four positions and qualifying for next season's Champions League alive with an impressive 4-1 win against Werder Bremen on Sunday.

BVB fell behind within 14 minutes as Milot Rashica raced in behind before superbly firing across Marwin Hitz and into the bottom corner, but Giovanni Reyna's first goal since December proved to be one worth waiting for as the American teenager crashed home an equaliser from distance.

Erling Braut Haaland's quickfire brace ensured Dortmund led 3-1 at the break, with Mats Hummels scoring his fifth league goal of the season late on to help Dortmund move within four points of fourth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt after their 4-0 defeat at Borussia Monchengladbach.

Adi Hutter's side will have the chance to restore a seven-point lead over BVB when they take on Augsburg at home on Tuesday, but any unexpected slip-up will only serve to boost Dortmund's confidence further as Edin Terzic looks to depart the club with a DFB-Pokal win, as well as Champions League football secured for his successor Marco Rose next campaign.

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Union Berlin, meanwhile, continue to perform above expectations, with a 2-1 win against Stuttgart on Saturday keeping their hopes of qualifying for Europe for the first time in the club's history alive.

Last season was the club's first ever campaign in Germany's top flight, so to be in eighth place with only five matches remaining is a magnificent achievement from Urs Fischer and his players.

Grischa Promel got them up and running with a fine header directed into the ground after Christopher Trimmel's excellent run and cross from the right flank, before Trimmel was the provider once again with an even better ball across the box to find Petar Musa, who applied a simple finish to double his side's lead at the half-time interval.

Having made changes at half time, Stuttgart looked capable of mounting a comeback after Sasa Kalajdzic's clever layoff for Philipp Forster to pull one back, but Union Berlin displayed their defensive resolve by comfortably holding out for a victory which not only keeps their European hopes alive, but also strengthens their claims of an impressive top-half finish.

Team News

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Dortmund are likely to remain without Jadon Sancho due to a thigh injury, but the England winger could return to first-team action before the end of the month.

Thomas Delaney missed the win over Bremen due to an Achilles tendon problem, and may not be risked against Union Berlin on Wednesday.

Youssoufa Moukoko and Dan-Axel Zagadou have both been ruled out for the rest of the campaign with shin and knee injuries respectively, while Axel Witsel and Marcel Schmelzer face a race against time to feature before the end of the season due to serious Achilles tendon and knee injuries respectively.

Terzic could make a few changes ahead of a tough trip to top-four rivals Wolfsburg on Saturday, with Thorgan Hazard and Emre Can potentially coming into the side having only been used from the substitutes' bench against Bremen.

Union Berlin, meanwhile, hope to have Liverpool loanee Taiwo Awoniyi available again after the forward recovered from a thigh injury, but Wednesday's trip to Dortmund may come a little too soon for the forward.

Anthony Ujah, Sheraldo Becker, Niko Giesselmann and Leon Dajaku are all expected to be ruled out, with Fischer unlikely to make any changes to the XI which performed so well in the win against Stuttgart at the weekend.

Borussia Dortmund possible starting lineup:

Hitz; Morey, Akanji, Hummels, Guerreiro; Bellingham, Can, Dahoud; Hazard, Haaland, Reus

Union Berlin possible starting lineup:

Luthe; Friedrich, Knoche, Schlotterbeck; Trimmel, Lenz, Andrich, Promel, Gentner; Musa, Kruse

We say: Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Union Berlin

Union Berlin have only lost six of 29 league games this season, so any win is unlikely to come easily for Dortmund, even with their recent improvement in results and performances on the whole.

However, with their top-four chase gathering momentum, we expect BVB to narrowly edge a tense and nervy encounter.