It’s a quick turnaround for the boys in black and yellow. Two days after having to swallow their first “defeat pill” of the season at the hands of the Bavarian giants, Kovac and his men make their way up north to the land of Hygge and Lego for their next Champions League outing. *Sidenote: five of their next six games are away from home… whose idea was that?!
Dortmund will look to strengthen their position in the top half of the CL table, adding another three to their current four-point tally. København,
on the other hand, are still waiting for their first win, suffering a 2-nil setback to Qarabag FK and sharing the points with Bayer Leverkusen before that. It has actually been an October to forget for the Danish so far, with their last victory coming against Sønderjyske in the Superligaen on the 27th of September.
Coincidentally, both sides are currently sitting in fourth place in their respective domestic leagues. With that being said, the meeting between the two should not be as evenly matched. Or should it? On paper, the favorite is quite clear, but BVB’s last trip to Parken Stadium in 2022 ended in a one-all draw, proving that the defending Danish champions are anything but a pushover. Leverkusen needed a 90th-minute own goal to rescue a draw in Copenhagen about a month ago. Dortmund will hopefully act less dramatically.
Player to Watch: Jordan Larsson
Since joining the club in January of 2023, the Swedish winger has been one of the standout performers for the Lions. The 28-year-old has netted four times and assisted twice in the Superligaen this season. He opened the scoring in the hard-fought 2-all versus Leverkusen.
He has also played for Schalke; that dreadful fact alone should warrant monitoring his movements closely on Tuesday evening.
Predicted Lineup:
The international break was long, hence the tired legs we saw against Bayern. Serhou Guirassy, in particular, seemed completely depleted. It, therefore, might be a good idea to rest 1-2 names with the upcoming clashes against the high-flying Cologne and Frankfurt in mind. The team also looked far too flat during the first half in Munich, so some things should be tweaked regardless. Other than Emre Can and Julien Duranville, everyone else should be available.
Niko Kovac hasn’t been one to rotate his XI much, but here’s how I would start:
Groß and Süle looked unplayable for large parts of the Bayern game, so Bensebaini and Brandt will replace them, returning to the 2-man midfield we are used to. The hope would be that Bensebaini can last the full 90 and Brandt extends the fine form he’s had coming off the bench recently. The same goes for Fabio Silva. I’d love to see what he can do from kickoff. Couto will come in for Ryerson, as I believe his offensive enthusiasm will be needed.
Lastly, I think it’s important to give Jobe a chance to redeem himself. Don’t let his mistake against Michael Olise from Saturday linger. Let him start as he did against Athletic Bilbao and slowly build his confidence back up.
Match Prediction
I do believe Dortmund will get back to winning ways this week. They’ll have to work hard, and it may take a while to chip away at the Copenhagen defense, but all things considered, BVB have looked way too stable in recent weeks to slip up here. Not to mention, Die Schwarzgelben have found the back of the net eight times in just their first two CL matches. The 38.065 Parken visitors could witness a 3:1 Dortmund victory tomorrow.
