Chelsea vs. Borussia Dortmund lineups, starting XIs: Reece James starts; Christian Pulisic returns on bench

Reece James will start for Chelsea in their Champions League round of 16 second leg against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday (3 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount+) in a major boost to Graham Potter’s hopes of overturning a 1-0 deficit.

James missed Saturday’s 1-0 win over Leeds United but took part in training on Monday and is straight into an XI that includes one other change, Marc Cucurella replacing the ineligible Benoit Badiashile.

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Meanwhile US international Christian Pulisic is in the squad for the first time since January 5, when he sustained a knee injury against Manchester City. His international team mate Giovanni Reyna is on the Dortmund bench as well with head coach Edin Terzic having concluded that first-choice goalkeeper Gregor Kobel is not fit enough to start after suffering a thigh injury in the warm up for Friday’s win over RB Leipzig.

Chelsea continue to be without Thiago Silva, who is expected to be out until April, whilst Mason Mount is suspended for this game.  N’Golo Kante has returned to training but after six and a half months on the sidelines, Tuesday’s Champions League game (catch all the action on CBS and Paramount+) has come too soon for the Frenchman. 

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For Karim Adeyemi, the match winner in the first leg, has not recovered from a muscle injury in time to make the trip and is joined on the sidelines by the likes of Youssoufa Moukoko, Mateu Morey and the suspended full-back Julian Ryerson. Sebastien Haller will lead the Dortmund line, bidding for just his second goal since returning from testicular cancer. Two English players are included in the visitors’ matchday squad, star midfielder Jude Bellingham an obvious choice from the off whilst former Chelsea academy prospect Jamie Bynoe-Gittens is on the bench.

Chelsea XI: Kepa; Fofana, Koulibaly, Cucurella; James, Kovacic, Fernandez, Chilwell; Sterling, Havertz, FelixSubs: Bettinelli, Bergstrom, Pulisic, Loftus-Cheek, Chalobah, Mudryk, Zakaria, Ziyech, Gallagher, Chukwuemeka, Hall

Borussia Dortmund XI: Kobel; Wolf, Sule, Schlotterbeck, Guerreiro; Can, Salih Ozcan, Bellingham; Brandt, Reus; HallerSubs: Kobel, Unbehaun, Reyna, Dahoud, Hummels, Modeste, Malen, Meunier, Passlack, Rothe, Bynoe-Gittens, Coulibaly