Man City v Dortmund: Haaland to lead Citizens assault

Man City v Dortmund
Wednesday September 14, 20:00
BT Sport

Man City well-rested

Manchester City return to action on Wednesday night with the Citizens looking to go two-from-two in the Champions League.

Pep Guardiola's group cruised to an eye-catching 4-0 triumph in Sevilla last midweek and have since had eight days off following Sunday's postponed Premier League showdown here against Tottenham.

The Blue Moon have enjoyed a better start to the season than they have in recent years, winning four of their opening six league fixtures and drawing the other two.

New signing Erling Haaland has made a blistering impact, scoring 12 goals in his first eight outings across all competitions with the likes Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan have also impressed.

Manuel Akanji stepped in for his debut in Seville, alongside Ruben Dias at centre-half, and Guardiola will have a decision to make on his defensive make-up in midweek.

Nathan Ake is fit enough to feature from the off, whilst John Stones and Kyle Walker should also be back in the frame with Aymeric Laporte the only confirmed absentee for the hosts.

Dortmund disappoint in Leipzig

Dortmund warmed up for Wednesday's clash in the worst possible way, slumping to a deserved 3-0 defeat away at RB Leipzig.

The Black and Yellows were 1-0 down early on after Nico Schlotterbeck had switched off from a corner, and conceded a second before half-time when Jude Bellingham gave the ball away ahead of Dominik Szoboszlai's screamer.

Leipzig settled matters with a late third goal, as BVB failed to fire. To compound Dortmund's misery, Saturday's showdown was the first time since November 2019 the side had failed to register a single shot on goal in a Bundesliga game with Julian Brandt and Marco Reus bullied out of contention and Anthony Modeste unable to make any impact in attack.

Edin Terzic came in for plenty of criticism post-match but the Dortmund boss is limited in his ability to make changes here with the Germans short on numbers.

Karim Adeyemi, Donyell Malen and Thorgan Hazard all missed out on Saturday and are rated as doubts for the midweek match, although Gio Reyna could be given a start after impressing off the bench.

A Citizens stroll anticipated

Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund have met four times in the Champions League with the Citizens posting a W2-D1-L1 return in four previous match-ups.

The Premier League outfit won quarter-final legs against BVB in the 2020/21 competition and have now claimed top honours in each of their last eight home games against German opposition.

Man City 1.211/5 are unbeaten in their last 20 Champions League home games (W18-D2-L0 - the longest such unbeaten run by an English side in the competition since 2009.

Pep Guardiola's outfit have also won each of their last eight Etihad encounters across all competitions, scoring a minimum of three goals on each occasion (averaging 4.25 goals).

Dortmund 17.0016/1 opened their Champions League campaign with a comfortable 3-0 success at home to FC Copenhagen with Julian Brandt and Marco Reus standing out.

However, the Black and Yellows have largely been reliant on sparks of individual creativity and improvisation this term and will find opportunities scarce against City's high press.

Haaland to hurt his former club

The market is anticipating one-way traffic on Wednesday. Over 3.5 Goals is offered as an odds-on shot at 1.875/6, the Asian Handicap has been set at a flat two, and Dortmund arrive as a similar-priced proposition to Crystal Palace, highlighting the disparity between the two teams, leagues and relative budgets coming into this clash.

Finding standout value in the major markets is hard to find but the Bet Builder presents opportunities.

And with punters able to pick up a £5 free bet after placing a £5 Bet Builder on this showdown, it makes sense to focus our approach on the Sportsbook function.

Here we can back Man City -1 Handicap, Erling Haaland to Score Anytime and a Goal Scored In Both Halves for an attractive 2.1411/10 option.

Haaland has scored 25 goals in 20 Champions League appearances - the most by any player in their first 20 games in the competition - and has already racked up 12 goals in just eight appearances for the Blue Moon.