Sports Mole previews Tuesday’s Champions League clash between Borussia Dortmund and Celtic, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Both big winners on the opening matchday, Borussia Dortmund and Celtic will lock horns in the Champions League on Tuesday evening, when they meet in Germany.
While the Scottish champions have won every game this season, their toughest test yet awaits in Dortmund, where the hosts have scored freely in recent weeks.
Match preview
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Last season’s Champions League runners-up kicked off this term’s campaign in some style, overcoming a slow start to thump three goals past Club Brugge without reply at Jan Breydel Stadion.
Substitute Jamie Gittens made a significant impact by bagging himself a late brace in Belgium, before star striker Serhou Guirassy applied the finishing touch with a stoppage-time penalty.
All but two of their last 11 campaigns have seen Dortmund feature in the knockout rounds, and that will be their aim again under new boss Nuri Sahin, who replaced Edin Terzic as head coach in the summer.
Aged just 36, the former BVB midfielder is the youngest manager involved in this year’s Champions League, but aside from winning in Bruges his reign has not run too smoothly so far.
A week after being beaten 5-1 by Stuttgart, Sahin’s side were quite fortunate not to be three goals down in Friday’s Bundesliga contest against Bochum, before Guirassy scored twice and Karim Adeyemi provided two assists to turn the game on its head.
While their defence may be dubious, Dortmund have now scored 10 times across three home games this season – and they have also lost just three of their last 17 European matches on home turf.
Now, Die Schwarzgelben go head to head with another former European champion, who they previously met twice in the UEFA Cup, winning both ties over two legs.
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Not only are Celtic yet to beat Borussia Dortmund, the Scottish side have never before won a competitive fixture anywhere in Germany, where they have lost each of their last four and nine of the last 11.
Nonetheless, the Bhoys will travel there on this occasion in superb form, having won all nine games so far this season – scoring 33 goals and conceding just four in the process.
Last time out, Brendan Rodgers saw his side flatten St Johnstone 6-0 in the Scottish Premiership, and they have now scored 16 goals across their last three matches in all competitions.
Surely the highlight of that streak came at Parkhead, as Celtic found the net four times during the second half of their league-phase opener against Slovan Bratislava, ultimately storming to a 5-1 win – the Glasgow club’s biggest Champions League victory to date.
In all, they have won their last 15 games stretching back to a 3-3 draw against Aberdeen in April’s Scottish Cup semi-finals – even then, they went on to win 6-5 on penalties.
Therefore, reaching the Champions League’s knockout stages for just a fourth time will be their aim, but Celtic must now improve a dismal away record in continental competition: they have won just one of their last 11 European away fixtures, losing nine.
Borussia Dortmund Champions League form:
Borussia Dortmund form (all competitions):
Celtic Champions League form:
Celtic form (all competitions):
Team News
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While Nuri Sahin will hope to have Marcel Sabitzer back in action after the Austrian midfielder missed Friday’s derby win with a knock, Gio Reyna is still sidelined by a groin injury suffered on international duty with the United States.
Niclas Sule, Donyell Malen and Felix Nmecha are all contenders to come into Borussia Dortmund’s first XI on Tuesday, but there is little doubt about who will start up front.
Serhou Guirassy scored twice last time out, after netting against former club Stuttgart and on the Champions League’s opening matchday – the Guinean striker has registered 42 goals in 53 Bundesliga appearances since September 2022.
Meanwhile, Celtic’s attack is led by Kyogo Furuhashi – who scored twice at the weekend – with support from Daizen Maeda and former Germany Under-20s winger Nicolas Kuhn.
If Cameron Carter-Vickers can complete his comeback from a foot issue, Brendan Rodgers could have a fully-fit squad to choose from, with Adam Idah and James Forrest among his main options on the bench.
Borussia Dortmund possible starting lineup:
Kobel; Couto, Sule, Schlotterbeck, Ryerson; Gross, Can; Adeyemi, Brandt, Gittens; Guirassy
Celtic possible starting lineup:
Schmeichel; Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor; Engels, McGregor, Hatate; Kuhn, Furuhashi, Maeda
We say: Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Celtic
For all of Celtic’s excellence in the early stages of this season, the Scottish champions may come up short in Dortmund, as they do not tend to travel well in Europe and a huge ‘Yellow Wall’ will be roaring their hosts on.
No fewer than 11 of BVB’s 18 goals this term have arrived during the final 30 minutes, so eventually they should break their visitors down and wrap up another victory.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.