Breaking down Dortmund’s Champions League group: Can we have high hopes?

Manchester City

The blue side of Manchester is the front-runner to win first place in Group G and also a genuine contender to take the trophy back home. The Premier League champions for the second consecutive year are certainly the most difficult match-up for Dortmund in this group.

The games against City will be a rematch of the 2020/2021 quarter-finals and the homecoming of our most recent prodigy: Erling Haaland. The Norwegian striker will return home after recently leaving the Westfalenstadion during this summer transfer window. As City added new players to an already boasted squad, Haaland is showing to be the missing piece on Pep Guardiola’s chess board.

The former Dortmund boy exploded on English soil quicker than expected, scoring ten goals in the first six matches in the BPL. This start surpassed his numbers in BVB when he scored nine goals in six games during his primary days in the Bundesliga.

Aside from Haaland, Dortmund will probably see a bunch of familiar faces, like Manuel Akanji, who has just completed his transfer on the deadline day, Sergio Gómez, and İlkay Gündoğan. However, former players having good performances against their old club is not the only thing we need to worry about.

Manchester City possesses one of the most prolific attacks in the world, while Dortmund is still adapting newly added defensive pieces into the team. Even considering the loss of Jesus, Sterling, and Zinchencko, City is one of those teams with at least two quality players for each position. Since Guardiola’s sides like to keep possession at all times, either in a 4-2-3-1 or 3-4-3, it is fair to predict that Dortmund will build a literal Yellow Wall surrounding Kobel while exploring the speed of players like Adeyemi and Bynoe-Gittens in counter-attacks.As City will try to advance beyond the historic semifinals versus Real Madrid last season, BVB will attempt to get as many points as possible against this hard-to-digest rival.