Borussia Dortmund will meet with Sporting Lisbon in the second group of fixtures in this year’s Champions League as the two look to establish themselves as genuine contenders to get out of Group C.
In the opening week of European action, Borussia Dortmund had a relatively comfortable night as they travelled to Turkey to meet with Besiktas as both Jude Bellingham and Erling Haaland put on fantastic displays to give them a 2-1 win.
Besiktas only scored in the 94th minute with one of the last kicks of the game and it was otherwise a faultless performance from the travelling side, especially from Bellingham, who put in yet another special 90 minutes.
Back in Germany, BVB are in fourth position and after Marco Rose lost to his old side in Borussia Monchengladbach last time out, the club have now seen their gap on leaders Bayern Munich stretch out to an early worrying four points.
This doesn't completely write off a title challenge for the Black and Yellow this season, but with 12 goals conceded from only six games inside the Bundesliga, it is quite concerning for the German giants early on and they just can’t seem to keep a clean sheet, as proved in the late goal against Besiktas.
On the other hand, Dortmund have still managed to score 17 times in those six league fixtures, which only Bayern can match with their stunning record of 23 goals in six games. However, it’s their five conceded that has been the cause of concern for BVB in their title pursuit.
As for Sporting CP, they stormed to the Primeira Liga title last year and their defence of the title has been topsy-turvy early on and it’s fair to say that not all their attention will be on this game as a result.
The Lisbon outfit are currently just four points off league leaders Benfica because of two draws in the top flight which came in back-to-back games just prior to their first Champions League game of the campaign.
Sporting would get annihilated by Ajax in this opening game, as the Dutch champions ran riot with a 5-1 victory which leaves them bottom of the table and a defeat might just wipe out any hopes of progressing to the knockout rounds.
With this in mind, Forebet predicts an easy win for Dortmund and a game which will see over 2.5 goals in favour of the home side. Ultimately, there is just too much of a gap in class between the two.