Borussia Dortmund vs Borussia Mönchengladbach: Three key battles

The Midfield Battle

Tight games are often decided in the middle of the park, and this one could be too. With Gladbach midfielder Denis Zakaria not available, they will most likely have a two-man midfield which features Christoph Kramer and Florian Neuhaus.

Lucien Favre also has a decision or two to make in central midfield and it will be interesting to see who will partner Axel Witsel. Jude Bellingham has done very well in pre-season since his move from Birmingham City, and is the favourite to start after his excellent performance on Monday. But Favre could also go with Thomas Delaney in the defensive midfield role, which would give Witsel more license to roam, something that Christoph Kramer will be trying to limit to a bare minimum.

If Dortmund can control the midfield and feed the likes of Reyna, Sancho and (later in the game) Marco Reus, they will get lots of joy against their opposing full-backs. But the same goes for Gladbach with the way our wing-backs like to push up, especially Raphael Guerreiro or Thorgen Hazard. They will feel that if they can hit that space in behind enough, they have a significant chance of counter-attacking.

We have seen before in season opening games how some devolve into end to end action. If this happens, it could be a very busy evening for both Roman Bürki and Yann Sommer in their respective goals.