Champions League preview: Newcastle vs Borussia Dortmund, Young Boys vs Man City
Newcastle vs Borussia Dortmund
After hammering Paris Saint-Germain 4-1 at St James’ Park last time out, Eddie Howe’s men face a Borussia Dortmund side still looking for their first Champions League win of the campaign.
Dortmund laboured to a goalless draw against Milan earlier this month, having lost 2-0 away to PSG in their opening fixture.
Will the Bundesliga side offer more resistance against Newcastle? Edin Terzic’s men are actually in decent shape domestically, unbeaten all season and coming here on the back of five straight wins in the league.
Snatching victory on Wednesday may be beyond them, though; Dortmund have lost seven of their last eight games in England. Newcastle should be confident too, having romped to a 4-0 victory against Crystal Palace at the weekend.
The Mags have won their last five home games in all competitions, conceding one goal in that run (against Paris). With the hosts’ morale presumably sky-high, it’s tough to see Dortmund bamboozling them.
Newcastle are understandable favs to win then; perhaps a better bet would be to back one of the home side’s strikers to find the net. I feel dutybound to mention Alexander Isak, since he’s Newcastle’s leading scorer this season and – narrative alert – played for Dortmund for a spell, before arriving in the Premier League.
That said, Callum Wilson might be a better bet to score on Wednesday, assuming he starts. The striker has four goals from his last five league games; in the four home games he’s played this season, he’s scored in three of them. Wilson is evens to score against Dortmund.
Young Boys vs Man City
The pride of Bern vs the reigning champions. Boys vs Man, as it were.
We’re tempted to make some snide remark about there being no easy games at this level (and let’s not even get started on the name of the stadium). BUT – Young Boys aren’t perhaps quite the pushover you might be thinking.
Two years ago, YB turned over Man Utd in Switzerland 2-1 – Boyz II Man I, so to speak. The Swiss side also beat Juventus 2-1 back in December 2018, a disturbing case of Young Boys beating an Old Lady. Though admittedly the Turin team had already qualified for the knockout stage.
More recently, the Boys were beaten 3-1 by RB Leipzig in their first home game in this CL campaign, and drew away to Red Star Belgrade earlier this month. City, meanwhile, have breezed through their two opening CL games, winning each match 3-1.
The traders make City 1/6 to win at the Wankdorf on Wednesday; the hosts are 16/1 to take an unlikely victory. Or you could stick your neck out and chance the draw at 13/2 – but even after a couple of defeats for City in the last few weeks, it’s tough to envisage Young Boys manager Raphael Wicky getting any sort of result against pesky Pep. Though if anything could make it happen, me suggesting it won’t has to give those plucky Young Boys at least a sporting chance.
What’s the bet then? Julian Alvarez to score might make sense; it took him seven minutes to do so against Brighton at the weekend, and he has three goals in two Champions League appearances for City so far this season. Alvarez is 21/20 to find the net.
For the hosts, Cedric Itten might be able to give the home fans something to cheer; he’s found the net in three of his last four appearances, including one against Red Star earlier this month. Itten is 21/5 to score on Wednesday.
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