Champions League: Haaland Set to Haunt His Old Mates

Manchester City vs Borussia Dortmund

Manchester City’s scoring sensation Erling Braut Haaland is about to renew some old acquaintances this week when Borussia Dortmund are the visitors to the Etihad for a mouth-watering Champions League clash.

City made a huge statement in their opener against Sevilla last week, winning 4-0, while BVB had a strong start too, beating Copenhagen 3-0. But the big story of the summer – Haaland’s switch from Dortmund to Manchester – is still fresh in the minds of both clubs, particularly since he has plundered ten league goals already for the English champions, four more than his nearest rival, and also bagged a brace in his European debut for the Sky Blues.

In the post-Haaland era, Borussia Dortmund still have plenty of talent in their squad but they come into this game a little shell-shocked, having just been thumped 3-0 by Red Bull Leipzig.  

Talking Points

Rested Sky Blues ready to go again  

While Haaland is sure to write the Champions League 2022 news headlines throughout the run up to this game, and quite possibly after it, Guardiola’s side has never been a one-man team and it never will be. When you have players of the quality of Kevin de Bruyne, Ruben Dias, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva in the side, to name but four, you have a squad dripping with world-class talent. It seems that Haaland might just be that crucial final piece of the jigsaw, a terrifying thought for City’s Premier League rivals.   

Manchester City’s scheduled game against Spurs was cancelled at the weekend following the sad news of the passing of the Queen, and so Pep Guardiola has had a full week to prepare his side following last week’s triumph in Seville.

It was a master-class from the Sky Blues as Haaland slid home his ninth goal in five games to convert a sensational De Bruyne cross and he added his second in the second half, after Foden had made it 2-0 with a superb goal, taunting the Sevilla defence before sweeping the ball home. Centre-back Dias rounded off the scoring, getting on the end of a Joao Cancelo cross to tap the fourth into an empty net.    

City can carve open any defence when they click and, after coming so close to winning the European crown in 2021, the Champions League 2022 betting odds have installed the Sky Blues as favourites to win the 2022/23 trophy. 

BVB bruised by the Bulls

Dortmund are the next team to try to stop Manchester City and their coach Edin Terzic has a job to do to pick his men up after a setback in Leipzig at the weekend. Losing so convincingly to a potential Bundesliga title rival is bad for confidence and was a serious blow to their aspirations. A win would have taken BVB top, but the defeat leaves them in fifth place and still behind favourites Bayern Munich, who picked up their third draw of the campaign.

It was a frustrating day for Terzic and he will look to his big players to avoid damaging back-to-back defeats.

Striker and Captain Marco Reus, and midfield ace Jude Bellingham are key players, both scoring in Dortmund’s win over Copenhagen, along with Raphael Guerreiro. At 33 years of age, Reus is getting better and better and is a vital source of goals and assists, with over 100 goals for the club, while young England star Bellingham is developing into one of the best box-to-box midfielders in the world. 

But I suspect it will be the new-look centre-back pairing of Niklas Sule and Nico Schlotterbeck who will be under the microscope at the Etihad on Wednesday.   

History

The two teams have met seven times and won three each, the most recent encounters coming in the 2021 Champions League quarter-finals which Manchester City won 4-2 on aggregate – 2-1 in both games. De Bruyne and Foden scored at the Etihad, while Reus replied for BVB. In the second game at Signal Iduna Park, Bellingham levelled the aggregate score before Riyad Mahrez and Foden again restored City’s lead.  

In terms of recent form, the Sky Blues are more reliable, winning three and drawing three of the last six games while Die Schwarzgelben have won four and lost two.

And Manchester City are impregnable at home, winning the last eight games at the Etihad in all competitions. 

Betting Tip 

At SBOTOP odds of 1.18 City are pretty much nailed on to win this game with odds of 10.00 on a Dortmund win and 7.80 the draw.

I expect the refreshed Sky Blues to come out of the blocks quickly and be ahead at the break, with ‘you know who’ scoring yet another goal!

 

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