Man City vs. Borussia Dortmund: Champions League Betting Preview

Manchester City versus Borussia Dortmund is the pick of Wednesday’s Champions League matches and the home team are tipped to prevail.

The clash at Eastlands sees the reigning Premier League and Bundesliga champions oppose and both will be looking to improve on last season’s efforts in this competition.

Group stage eliminations for the pair were unexpected and the draw this time around hasn’t been kind either, with Real Madrid and Ajax making up the rest of the group.

Big-spending City started their latest assault on Europe’s biggest prize with a trip to the Spanish capital and it all looked so good for Robert Mancini’s side, who led 2-1 with under five minuets to play.

However, Karim Benzema and Cristiano Ronaldo struck late on to give Real a dramatic victory and Mancini’s men have struggled defensively this term.

It is 17 goals conceded in just nine matches dating back to the Community Shield triumph over Chelsea, City are yet to keep a clean sheet, but Wednesday’s visitors are equally porous on their travels and it should be a terrific spectacle.

Although City have suffered the odd cup reversal on home soil since Mancini took over at the helm it is now 39 Premier League and European games in front of their own fans since they last tasted defeat and I’m surprised to see odds against offered about them bouncing back from their Bernabeu disappointment.

While City were unfortunate not to progress to the knockout stage last year behind Napoli and Bayern Munich, there were no such hard luck hard stories for the German champions and they lost each of their three away fixtures in the group.

Defeats at Marseille, Olympiakos and Arsenal, conceding seven goals in the process, was a a reality check to a team that had swept all before them domestically and a trip to England’s north-west will be no picnic.

Dortmund are yet to win away in three Bundesliga fixtures this season, conceding seven goals en route to two points, and manager Jurgen Klopp should be concerned.

They did start with a 1-0 win against Ajax a fortnight ago, Robert Lewandowski getting the only goal, but this is a different test altogether and I’m not sure they’re up to it.

2pts Back Man City (vs. Borussia Dortmund) @ 2.10 (Pinnacle)