Dortmund ease into last 16 after scoreless draw with Sporting

Borussia Dortmund sailed into round of 16 of the Champions League after a comfortable 0-0 draw with Sporting in the second leg of their knockout phase playoff on Wednesday, giving last year's runners-up a 3-0 aggregate win.

Dortmund will face Aston Villa or Lille in the last 16, with their opponents to be decided in Friday's draw.

Despite being 3-0 down from the first leg, Sporting showed little urgency early on, looking happy to sit back and wait for an opportunity to counter.

Sporting left their top scorer Viktor Gyökeres at home as a precaution. The striker, who has netted 34 goals in 36 games this season, has struggled with a thigh injury recently but played at the weekend, and his absence was a sign of their resignation.

The first chance fell to the hosts when Marcel Sabitzer tried his luck from distance and the shot curled wide of the far post.

Sabitzer, seeking his first goal of the season, had another strike from outside the area, this time calling Sporting keeper Rui Silva into action, who parried the ball away for a corner.

Dortmund were awarded a penalty 13 minutes after the interval when Silva took down Karim Adeyemi but the Sporting keeper made amends by saving Serhou Guirassy's spot-kick to deny the Champions League's top scorer this season his 11th goal of the competition.

Substitute Giovanni Reyna had an excellent chance to break the deadlock for the hosts when sent through with just the keeper to beat, but he hit the upright and was unable to convert the rebound.

Emre Can did have the ball in the net with a header, but his effort was chalked off for offside, and Dortmund, who have lost their last two league games, the first two under new manager Niko Kovac, march on in Europe.

"I think it was not a great game by both teams. We dominated the game for over 90 minutes," Kovac told reporters. "We didn't concede anything, even in the first half we only had a few shots. In the second half we were much more dangerous. We should have won the game."

Sporting, meanwhile, continued their dramatic drop off in form since Ruben Amorim left to take charge of Manchester United in November.

Under Amorim, Sporting won three of their four games in the league phase and were second in the standings.

Since his departure they have failed to win a European match, losing five of six games, and their European adventure ended in an anti-climatic fashion.