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Manchester City travel to Dortmund on Tuesday, knowing that avoiding defeat will secure top spot in the Champions League group. The blues have already qualified for the last 16 of the competition, but victory for the German side will send them through and put them level on points with City. A draw will be good enough for the blues, having already beaten Dortmund last month.
Securing top spot means that City will get what is widely considered to be a ‘kinder’ draw, meaning they will face the second placed teams from each group. However, as it stands at the moment, that could be Porto, Inter Milan, Marseille, Salzburg, Leipzig of Benfica. But, with two games yet to be played, that situation can rapidly change.
Form
Dortmund go into the match on the back of two successive wins in the Bundesliga. A 2-0 win at Hannover in midweek was followed up with a 5-0 home victory over Vfb Stuttgart. The win at Hannover ended a run of three matches without a win, which saw Dortmund lose 3-2 to FC Koln and 2-0 at surprise Bundesliga leaders Union Berlin. Currently, Dortmund are fifth in the table, with six wins from 11 matches played and four points behind the leaders. Dortmund have so far scored 27 goals in all competitions, but have also conceded 18.
In the Champions League, Dortmund have won two of their four matches, drew their last match with Sevilla and lost 2-1 to the blues, when former Dortmund man Erling Haaland scored a late winner.
Ones to watch
Midfielder Jude Bellingham has taken over Haaland’s goalscoring responsibilities and has six goals to his name so far this season. He has attempted 26 shots from his 15 games played and has a shot accuracy of 54% and a goal conversion rate of 23%. Bellingham has scored twice against City, both times giving Dortmund the lead.
Youssoufa Moukoko has scored four goals, all in the Bundesliga, with Marco Reus, Julian Brandt and Raphael Guerreiro all scoring 3 each.
Moukoko, Brandt and Reus have been providing the assists and have three apiece. Of the three, Brandt is the more dangerous, having created 19 chances, the highest in the Dortmund team. Bellingham has two assists but, from midfield, has attempted the most passes with 774 in 15 games, With 639 completed, the former Birmingham City man has a pass accuracy of 83%.
Defender Nico Schlotterbeck has attempted the most passes with 891, 771 of which have been completed, which gives him a pass accuracy of 87% from 15 games. However, it is Niklas Süle who has the best ratings. From 12 matches, Sule has attempted 683 passes and completed 619, which gives him the highest pass accuracy of 91%.
Who’s the boss?
Edin Terzic is the man at the helm at Dortmund and has been in the position since May 2022. Terzic replaces Marco Rose as head coach and has presided over 17 games in his second spell in charge. His record is ten wins and five defeats, giving him a win ratio of 58%.
His previous spell was between December 2020 – June 2021, during which he managed 32 games, winning 20 and losing eight, giving him a first time round win ratio of 62%.
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