Borussia Dortmund will kick off their 2022/23 Bundesliga campaign with a visit from Bayer Leverkusen this Saturday.
Venue: Signal Iduna Park (Dortmund)
Key Statistics
Borussia Dortmund had the best conversion rate in the league last term, putting away a goal every 5.6 shots to set a new club record of 85 goals.
BVB’s Jude Bellingham has registered 11 goals and 18 assists in 91 appearances as a Dortmund player.
Bayer Leverkusen set a new club record with 80 goals last season, with 41 coming on the road.
The hosts have won their opening game for the last seven seasons, including six at home. They last dropped points on Matchday 1 with a 2-0 loss to Leverkusen.
Bayer Leverkusen’s Patrik Schick was the most clinical Bundesliga player in 2021/22 with a shot efficiency of +5.1 as he plundered 24 goals from 27 appearances – a total second only to Robert Lewandowski.
Head to head
Borussia Dortmund have a good record against Bayer Leverkusen and have won 19 out of the 46 matches played between the two teams. Bayer Leverkusen have managed 16 victories against the hosts.
Latest performances in all competitions
Borussia Dortmund: D-W-L-L-W
Bayer Leverkusen: L-W-D-W-L
Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund will look to begin the new Bundesliga with a win when they welcome Bayer Leverkusen to the Westfalenstadion on Saturday evening.
The hosts finished the 2021/22 season in second place, just five points ahead of their Saturday visitors but eight points behind eventual league winners Bayern Munich.
After years of playing second fiddle in the league behind perennial winners Bayern, they will be looking to get a taste of the trophy this season. They will have to do so without their star striker, Erling Haaland, who left for Manchester City this summer.
They will also be without his replacement Sebastian Haller as the Ivorian is sidelined after undergoing surgery for the removal of a testicular tumour.
But while the former Ajax man remains sidelined, another summer signing Karim Adeyemi will be looking to seize this opportunity to make his mark in the Bundesliga. The former RB Salzburg player was on the score sheet as BVB opened their season with a 3-0 win over 1860 Munich in the DFB Pokal last weekend.
After watching from the sideline last season, the new manager Eden Terzić will hope he can thrill the fans and bring back the attacking football that we saw under him when he served as interim manager two seasons ago.
Possible Borussia Dortmund starting line-up
Gregor Kobel; Nico Schlotterbeck, Mats Hummels, Raphael Guerreiro, Thomas Meunier; Mahmoud Dahoud, Jude Bellingham, Julian Brandt, Marco Reus; Karim Adeyemi, Donyell Malen.
Injured: Niklas Sule, Felix Passlack, Sebastien Haller
Doubtful: None
Suspended: None
Bayer Leverkusen
Bayer Leverkusen will look to make it two wins in two games against Borussia Dortmund when both sides meet on Friday.
The visitors beat their hosts 5-2 the last time both sides met in this stadium and will be hoping for a repeat result this time as they look to finish a place higher than they did last year.
Leverkusen finished in third place in the Bundesliga standings last season, thanks to a strong finish to their campaign where they won four of their last league games.
However, they come into this tie on the back of a disappointing 4-3 loss to Elversberg in the DFB Pokal round of 32. They will be desperate to do better in this game to avoid registering two consecutive losses so early in the season.
Possible Bayer Leverkusen starting line-up
Lukas Hradecky; Jeremie Frimpong, Edmond Tapsoba, Jonathan Tah, Mitchel Bakker; Robert Andrich, Charles Aranguiz, Sardar Azmoun, Adam Hlozek; Moussa Diaby, Patrik Schick.
Injured: Florian Wirtz
Doubtful: Timothy Fosu-Mensah, Amine Adli, Karim Bellarabi
Suspended: None
Prediction
Borussia Dortmund 1-1 Bayer Leverkusen
