Borussia Dortmund will begin their 2021/22 UEFA Champions League campaign when they travel to Turkey this Wednesday to play Besiktas.
Venue: Vodafone Park (Istanbul)
Key Statistics
Besiktas are making their first UCL appearance since the 2017/2018 season.
The Turkish side have won just two of their last 11 meetings with German sides in the UCL (D1, L8).
Borussia Dortmund have scored three or more goals in three of their last five games.
They have failed to score only once in their last 15 UCL games.
Head to head (H2H)
The two sides only met in the 1989 Cup Winners’ Cup, and Borussia Dortmund won both legs.
Latest Performances (90 minutes)
Besiktas: W-W-D-W-W
Borussia Dortmund: W-W-L-L-W
Besiktas
After a three season absence from the Champions League, Turkish heavyweights returned to the group stage of the UCL. They qualified for this stage of the tournament by beating rivals Galatasaray to the title on goal difference on the last day of the season.
Having been put in a relatively simple group that also has Sporting Lisbon and Ajax, they will be confident of progressing to the next round.
They head into this tie in good shape, having won three of their opening league matches to sit on top of the Turkish Super Lig standings.
However, they face their toughest test yet against a rampant Dortmund side who are their toughest opponents in this group.
Meanwhile, Alex Teixeira and Domagoj Vida will be unavailable for this tie after picking up injuries during Besiktas’ 3-0 win over Yeni Malatyaspor over the weekend. Ajdin Hasic and Umut Meras are also unavailable due to injuries.
Possible Besiktas starting line-ups
Ersin Destanoglu; Fabrice N’Sakala, Welinton, Necip Uysal, Valentin Rosier; Souza; Georges-Kevin N’Koudou, Atiba Hutchinson, Miralem Pjanic, Rachid Ghezzal; Michy Batshuayi.
Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund qualified for this year’s UCL in dramatic fashion as they recovered from an early-season blip to finish third after winning their last five league matches of last season.
They have been put in a fairly easy group and will look to make the most of their opportunity.
Marco Rose‘s side travel to Istanbul fresh from an entertaining 4-3 comeback win over Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga.
They have won three of their last five matches and come to Turkey with a good goal-scoring record. The “Yellow and Black” outfit have scored over three goals in nine of their last 11 competitive fixtures and will fancy their chances of getting a few goals in this game.
Head coach Rose has a few injury doubts and is unlikely to start Mats Hummels who came off the bench against Leverkusen at the weekend. Thorgan Hazard, Emre Can, Dan-Axel Zagadou and Nico Schulz are other injury absentees for this clash.
Possible Dortmund starting line-ups
Gregor Kobel; Felix Passlack, Marin Pongracic, Manuel Akanji, Raphael Guerreiro; Mahmoud Dahoud, Julian Brandt, Jude Bellingham; Marco Reus; Donyell Malen, Erling Haaland.
Probability
Besiktas win : Draw : Borussia Dortmund win :: 17% : 21% : 62%
Prediction
Although Besiktas have been doing well in their domestic league, Dortmund possesses an attack that will be strong for them to handle.
But with a boisterous home crowd cheering them on and a couple of experienced players having been added to their squad this summer, they have the ability to spring a surprise and take home all three points from this game.
Besiktas 1:2 Borussia Dortmund
