The most awaited UEFA competition that is Champions League starts this week and on Wednesday Borussia Dortmund will make a trip to Turkey to take on Supe Lig giants Besiktas at the Vodafone Park with kickoff at 19:45.
This will be the opening fixture for both sides in Group C that also consist of Ajax and Sporting Lisbon. Besiktas secured an automatic qualification for this year’s Champions League group stage after winning the Turkish Super Lig for the 16th time last season having been tied on 80 points with Galatasaray but their superior goal difference was enough to secure the tittle for them.
The Black Eagles are once again setting the pace in the Super Lig this season and are yet to record a defeat or concede a single goal after four matches. They currently sit at the top of the Super Lig standings with 10 points and have been impressive in their attack as they head into the Champions League opener off the back of a 3-0 over Yeni Malatyaspor with Michy Batshuayi netting a brace while Georges-Kevin Nkoudou also hit the back of the net.
However, Sergen Yalcin’s side often find it difficult to enjoy a successful continental campaign as last season they were knocked out of the Champions League qualification following a 3-1 defeat to Paok in the second round of qualifiers. They then dropped to the final qualifying round for the Europa League where they were deprived of European football as they were eliminated by Rio Ave with a 5-3 defeat in a penalty shootout that followed a 1-1 draw.
Besiktas will now look to reflect their strong start in Super Lig to the Champions league with what will be a crucial result to kick off the group stage.
Meanwhile Borussia Dortmund also earned an automatic qualification for this year’s Champions League having finished third in the Bundesliga last season. Now under the new management of Marco Rose Der BVB have made an inconsistent start to the Bundesliga but are still challenging near the top having claimed three wins in opening four matches leaving them in the third spot with nine points.
Marco Rose’s side will now travel to Turkey off the back of an entertaining 4-3 away win against Bayer Leverkusen and are impressive in their attacks with their main man Erling Haaland already striking five goals for his side. However, they have been struggling defensively lately having conceded five goals in their last two matches.
All in all the Germans have built a solid record in the Champions League in recent years having fired to the knockout stages in the last three tournaments and have often qualified comfortably from the group stage and will be targeting for a similar outcome here as they aim to go further in competition this time around.
Besiktas vs Borussia Dortmund head to head
This will be the first fixture between the two sides who are in good forms as Besiktas have not lost in any of their last seven matches while Dortmund have only lost two of their last seven matches across all competitions.
Home
- Besiktas 3-0 Malatyaspor
- Besiktas 1-0 Fatih Karagumruk
- Gaziantep 0-0 Besiktas
- Besiktas 3-0 Rizespor
- Adana 1-1 Besiktas
Away
- Leverkusen 3-4 Dortmund
- Dortmund 3-2 Hoffenheim
- Freiburg 2-1 Dortmund
- Dortmund 1-3 Bayern Munich
- Dortmund 5-2 Frankfurt
Besiktas team news
Besiktas will be without Alex Teixeira and Domagoj Vida who were both forced off in their last match.
Borussia Dortmund team news
Dortmund will be without several players including Dan-Axel Zagadou, Emre Can and Giovanni Reyna while Thorgan Hazard and Nico Schulz are doubts.
Prediction and odds
- Borussia Dortmund win
- Both sides to score
- Goals over 2.5
