UEFA Champions League: Borussia Dortmund vs. Besiktas Preview, Odds, Prediction

All the cards are already dealt in Group C of the UEFA Champions League, and Dortmund and Besiktas will play one “friendly” game at Signal Iduna Park. The Millionaires are going to the UEFA Europa League, while on the other side, the Turkish team finished its European adventure. The Eagles have fallen apart in the past few weeks, with the morale in the locker room very, very poor. As for Borussia, the hosts are coming off a loss in der Klassiker, but after a very good performance against Bayern.

Preview

Borussia Dortmund (-300) was defeated at home to Bayern Munich 2-3, but this result could have easily been different. Saturday’s event was one of the best in Bundesliga in 2021, and we have to say that Borussia played its best match this year by far.

It was the sixth in a row for the Millionaires with over 2.5 goals, and also with both teams to score. Four of them were with four or more hits, and that only tells that Borussia’s style of play didn’t change at all since the campaign started.

Haaland is back in the lineup, which is a great boost for Marco Rose and his offense. Meanwhile, the defense is in problems, struggling a lot and making mistakes that simply aren’t allowed at this level of competition.

Besiktas (+740) imploded, and we can’t tell you what happened with the Turkish champions. They simply had a meltdown and are currently having a seven-game negative skid.

After six straight defeats, the Eagles managed to take one point in Kasimpasa on Friday, snapping a losing streak they haven’t endured in a while. There were various speculations about why this happened, but we aren’t going into this.

Four of Besiktas’ last six games were with over 2.5 goals. When looking only at the road games, they have six losses in the previous seven, and in four of them, the Eagles couldn’t score.

Latest News

Borussia’s condition is terrible, but we already know that. Reyna, Morey, Burki, Hazard, Moukoko are all out due to respective injuries, and after Klassiker, Julian Brandt joined the list due to his hard head knock. Emre Can has a red-card suspension and won’t be eligible to play either.

Alex Teixeira is out due to a thigh injury, while Gokhan Tore and Mert Gunok also have injury problems.

Head to Head Games

The first game in Istanbul saw Borussia winning 1-2. The Millionaires have stunned the hosts with two goals in the opening 45 minutes, keeping the lead until the end.

Prediction

Rose doesn’t have too many options in the attack right now, and he has to put in Haaland. Thus, we expect Borussia to score a few goals only due to this factor. Also, the Turkish champions are coming to Dortmund demoralized and without motive to play, which only increases Borussia’s prospects for a high victory. Our pick here would be the hosts to win and cover a -1.5-goal spread, with the odds on that set at -115. Those who are more courageous try with Borussia scoring twice in the first half.

Pick: Dortmund -1.5 -115

Here are the previews for other UEFA Champions League games

• AC Milan vs. Liverpool
• Real Madrid vs. Inter Milan
• Bayern Munich vs. Barcelona
• RB Leipzig vs. Manchester City
• Atalanta vs. Villarreal
• Manchester United vs. Villarreal