Champions League
2025-11-05 - Manchester City vs Borussia Dortmund
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: UEFA Champions League
Wednesday 5th November 2025 - Kick Off 8pm
This game is live on TV
Manchester City
Giving Erling Haaland acres of space to run into seems like a strange tactical decision and Bournemouth were punished for that on Sunday in the 3-1 defeat at Manchester City. The Norwegian striker scored twice to continue what has been a very strong start to the 2025/26 season for club and country, although some will point out that Manchester City need other players to start chipping in with goals too.
A big Premier League game is coming on Sunday with Manchester City hoping to develop into the main title rival for Arsenal in England, but the focus on Wednesday is making sure the team remain on track in the Champions League. It was a very difficult first campaign in the new format for Manchester City, but they begin Match Day 4 in 7th place in the Champions League standings and with 7 points already secured.
Manchester City have lost 1 of their last 12 games in all competitions and have recovered from that setback by winning the last 2 fixtures ahead of this one. Home form is going to be very important for Manchester City both in the Premier League and Champions League and they have won 5 in a row at the Etihad Stadium since losing the opening fixture to Tottenham Hotspur.
Mateo Kovacic has been ruled out and the manager has stated that he will be out for the rest of the calendar year. Changes will be made to freshen up the first eleven, especially with a healthy squad available to Pep Guardiola.
Borussia Dortmund
The season may only have just completed the three month mark, but Borussia Dortmund fans are well aware of how tough it will be to chase down Bayern Munich domestically. However, there has been enough to like from this squad to believe they are very dangerous and could have a big impact in the Champions League in the weeks and months ahead.
They will actually begin this round of fixtures in 6th place, one ahead of Manchester City, and Borussia Dortmund will be targeting a top eight finish to earn a direct spot in the Last 16. The side have picked up 7 points from a possible 9, but Borussia Dortmund should have had a perfect return considering they led 2-4 in Turin against Juventus deep into injury time and still managed to concede twice in a 4-4 draw on Match Day 1.
Borussia Dortmund are unbeaten in 4 games in all competitions since a narrow 2-1 defeat to Bayern Munich, while they have won 3 of those games in normal time. That loss to Bayern Munich was away from home, but Dortmund have bounced back very well to win in Copenhagen and Augsburg and also beat Eintracht Frankfurt on Penalties in the Cup.
The squad looks to be travelling to Manchester about as healthy as they could be for this fixture.
Head to Head
These two clubs are meeting for the seventh time in competitive football and Manchester City are unbeaten in 4, while they have won 3 of those matches.
The last 2 games hosted by Manchester City have both finished 2-1 to the home team.
Prediction
There are still elements of the Manchester City performances which suggest they are still transitioning under Pep Guardiola, even if they have moved to the head of the English Premier League queue in trying to chase down Arsenal.
A feeling of over-reliance on Erling Haaland cannot be shaken and Manchester City have not looked the most convincing at the back.
However, they enjoy facing teams like Bournemouth who want to push forward and put them under pressure and that has allowed Manchester City to use the pace they have in the final third to exploit spaces.
You have to expect Borussia Dortmund are going to want to do the same and showcase their own attacking threat, but it may just play into the Manchester City hands and they can get the better of this opponent again. It was Erling Haaland who scored the winner for Manchester City against his former club in 2022 and the striker can lead the way towards another success.
Borussia Dortmund cannot be dismissed after the start made to the season, but Bundesliga clubs have found it tough to deal with Premier League opponents.
Eintracht Frankfurt were well beaten by Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund's backline could be exposed, even if they have the attacking talents to play their part in this fixture.
Credit has to be given to Borussia Dortmund for some of the early results, but Manchester City are a step up from the kind of level of opponent that has been faced in the Champions League. They showed in Munich how effectively they can perform against top European opponents, but this is a different kind of challenge and the home team look to be in the form to end up on the right side of another high-scoring fixture in front of the supporters.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Manchester City 3-1 Borussia Dortmund
