Manchester City vs Borussia Dortmund (UEFA Champions League): Match Preview, Team News, Head to Head, How to Watch | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City prepare to take on Erling Haaland’s former side in the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday evening.

Last time out, Manchester City got back to winning ways in the Premier League after a superb performance against Andoni Iraola’s high-flying Bournemouth as the home side ran out 3-1 victors.

Erling Haaland gave his side the lead with 17 minutes on the clock after a delicate headed flick from Rayan Cherki into the path of the Norwegian to hammer home past Djordje Petrovic to put Manchester City one up at the Etihad against the Cherries.

The joy for those of a sky blue persuasion was short-lived, however, after a goalkeeping calamity by Gianluigi Donnarumma – who has been immense thus far in his City career – following a corner which allowed Tyler Adams to smash into the net of the home side and restore parity, just eight minutes after City took the lead.

Subsequently, the prior combination of Cherki and Haaland stole the show yet again in the 33rd minute – and a sublime ball in behind slotted the latter through yet again – and the 25-year-old inevitable number nine made no mistake yet again and put the Blues back in front.

Finally, on the hour mark, to seal off a splendid performance and secure three points for the residents of the Etihad Stadium, the duo of CFA graduates collaborated as Phil Foden slipped in Nico O’Reilly.

The 20-year-old placed his effort to perfection past Bournemouth’s Serbian shot stopper to cap off an excellent Manchester City performance as Guardiola’s men rose to second in the division – six points behind Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal.

Now though, it’s all eyes on continental action for Manchester City as a Borussia Dortmund side in exceptional form awaits the 2023 competition winners on Wednesday night as Niko Kovac’s side travels to England for matchweek four of the UEFA Champions League group-phase.

Here’s everything you need to know ahead of this enticing European clash between Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund!

Match Details

Manchester City host Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday 5th November at the Etihad Stadium with kick-off scheduled for 20:00 UK.

Match Officials

UEFA have confirmed that Polish official Szymon Marciniak will be the man in the middle for the clash between Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund, whilst fellow Pole Tomasz Kwiatkowski will be the VAR.

Check out the full list of match officials below!

Team News

For Manchester City, Ballon d’Or winner Rodri is back available for selection after returning to the bench against AFC Bournemouth at the weekend.

The only confirmed absentee is Mateo Kovacic, who is due to be out “for a while”, as confirmed by Pep Guardiola, due to an ongoing ankle injury that the Croatian had only just returned from overcoming.

For the visitors, Die Schwarzgelben appear to have nobody on the treatment table, with the only doubts being about Niklas Süle and Nico Schlotterbeck seeming to have recovered from their respective issues and looking set to make the trip to Manchester.

Press Conference Quotes

Pep Guardiola and Erling Haaland have addressed the media ahead of Manchester City’s clash with Borussia Dortmund. Here’s everything you need to know!

Pep Guardiola on the training schedule: “We will train tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. I’ve done it a few times. Not a lot, but a few times. Sometimes I prefer it; we don’t see each other. It was such a demanding game against Bournemouth, and I prefer to stay at home, and tomorrow morning we train.”

“In Germany and France, all the people in the UCL try to play on Friday to have more (days of rest) and here (in England) it is completely the opposite. If I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t train in England; I’d go to Germany or France – just in case they want me.”

Pep Guardiola on Haaland being appointed into the captaincy group: “It’s difficult to find a real world-class player who starts to be incredibly humble and thinks about what is best for the team.

“I know he wants to score, I know his impact, and his goals help, but I have the feeling he always has an eye on what is best for the team. And when that happens, it’s difficult to find world-class players who have this type of ability, talent, generosity, and kindness; Erling is like that. It was a surprise; normally a striker is just thinking goals, goals, goals.

“Of course he has to score; it’s the best way to help. That is obvious. But that’s why I decided because that guy signed a contract for 10 years, so as much as he’s involved in many things, it will be better for him and the club!”

Pep Guardiola on former City player Yan Couto now playing at Borussia Dortmund: “I’m happy he’s there; he came here so young and made an incredible impact with Girona in the best season in their history. And after Dortmund always approach young talents, invest, and after making an impact, sell them. I’m happy he’s doing really well!”

Erling Haaland on comparisons to Lionel Messi/Cristiano Ronaldo, etc: “No, not at all, far off. No one can get close to them two, so no.”

Erling Haaland on Rayan Cherki: “He’s a good guy with amazing qualities, as we can all see. And it’s about playing football to get the best out of everyone, the same with him. We need to help him in his free mind as a No. 10 to help pass the ball to me, to attacking players.

“He has this kind of special ability which is difficult to explain – a little bit like Kevin (De Bruyne) had, where he can just pass someone through from wherever on the pitch. He’s a special talent and we need to help him develop even more because he can be really good.”

Head-to-Head

The last fixture between these sides was a rather laborious affair ending in a goalless draw at the Signal Iduna Park in the away group leg during the historic 2022-23 Manchester City treble-winning run.

Throughout history, Manchester City have just about had the better of the German side, as in the 10th competitive game between the two sides. Manchester City have won four of the fixtures, drawing three and losing the remaining three.

Statistics

This will be the seventh time Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund have faced each other in the UEFA Champions League, with the German side only managing one win in the previous six (D2 L3).

Manchester City have conceded the opening goal in four of their six UEFA Champions League games against Borussia Dortmund but have only lost one of those four (W2 D1) and have come back to win in each of the last two when going 1-0 down (2-1 in April 2021 and September 2022).

Borussia Dortmund have netted the opening goal in two of their three away matches against Manchester City in the UEFA Champions League but have been denied a victory on both occasions by goals conceded from the 80th minute onwards (drew 1-1 in October 2012 and lost 2-1 in September 2022).

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is unbeaten in his last 10 games against Borussia Dortmund across all competitions (W6 D4), with his last defeat against them coming in the 2014 German Super Cup final. All three of his defeats in 15 total matches against Dortmund (W8 D4) came between 2013 and 2014 during Jürgen Klopp’s reign.

Borussia Dortmund have scored 12 goals in the UEFA Champions League, despite having an expected goals total of just 4.5. Indeed, across the opening three matchdays this season, the Germans had the biggest positive differential against their expected goals (+7.5), as well as the highest shot conversion rate (37.5%) of any side.

How To Watch

For UK-based viewers the game will get underway from 20:00 GMT and is available to stream on TNT Sports/Discovery+.

For those in the United States, the clash will begin at 15:00 EST and is available to stream on Paramount+.

Check out the full global TV listings HERE!