Borussia Dortmund vs Copenhagen

The 2022/23 Champions League season gets underway at the Signal Iduna Park as Borussia Dortmund and Copenhagen go head-to-head in a Group G curtain-raiser.

Drawn together with Manchester City and Sevilla, Borussia Dortmund are aware a victory in this fixture is needed to bolster their bid to make it out of the Champions League group stages following last season’s elimination. Back-to-back 1-0 Bundesliga wins have reinforced Edin Terzic’s hopes of helping Dortmund avoid consecutive Champions League group stage exits for the first time since 2001/02. Adding to the hosts’ confidence, they’ve never lost a UEFA-sanctioned encounter against Danish opponents (W3, D1). On top of that, they’ve only suffered one defeat in their last 12 home matches in the Champions League group stages (W8, D3). It’s worth mentioning that two of their three home league outings this season have seen them win via the same 1-0 scoreline (W2, L1).

On the other hand, Copenhagen’s return to the Champions League group phase for the first time since 2016/17 marks their fifth-ever appearance at this stage of the tournament, as many participations as all other Danish clubs combined. However, only once in their history have they progressed from the Champions League group stages, doing so in the 2011/12 season. Interestingly, though, the ‘Team of the City’ have yet to lose their opening Champions League across their previous four campaigns (W1, D3), suggesting they could give Dortmund a run for their money. Indeed, Jess Thorup’s men have only lost once in their last 14 away matches in major European competitions, qualifying included (W8, D5).