Paris Saint-Germain vs Borussia Dortmund
UEFA Champions League, KO: 20:00 Sep 19, 2023, Parc De Princes
IT has been a strange summer at Paris Saint-Germain with their Qatari owners ditching the policy of trying to assemble the most expensive frontline in history and concentrating on sensible planning for once.
And we'll get an early indication of how successful that new business model will be when Luis Enrique leads his side into Champions League battle for the first time with a tricky opener against German giants Borussia Dortmund.
Fans turned on megastars Lionel Messi and Neymar towards the end of last season so it was no surprise when they moved on and it looked like Kylian Mbappe would also be on his way out for most of the summer.
But the France striker looks set to stay for the rest of the season before sealing his dream move to Real Madrid and will have one more crack at landing Europe's biggest prize with PSG.
There has been a huge revamp of the squad and the focus has been on a French core with Ousmane Dembele, Randal Kolo Muani and Lucas Hernandez among the new arrivals.
Results have been patchy so far, with two wins, two draws and a defeat in Paris St-Germain's first five Ligue One games under former Spain boss Enrique.
So Borussia Dortmund will fancy their chances as they head to the Parc des Princes for the opening fixture in what promises to be a thrilling Group F.
With Newcastle and Milan also in the section, every game should be tight and it's vital for both PSG and Borussia Dortmund to get off to a positive start.
Having come so close to winning the Bundesliga last term, Edin Terzic's side haven't made the best of starts to the new league campaign, with Bochum and newly promoted Heidenheim both holding them to draws.
But Dortmund beat Freiburg 4-2 on Saturday and have a settled side so that familiarity could help them topple a PSG team who are still trying to gel after such a big summer rebuild.
How the bookies view it
Despite their poor start to the season, Paris Saint-Germain are odds-on favourites for a win at a best 3/4 with Bet365. Plenty of punters will take a nibble on Borussia Dortmund at 18/5 with BetUK while the draw pays 10/3 at William Hill. The Germans are available at 23/20 with the same firm in the double chance market and that could be worth a punt.
Head to head
These sides have only faced off four times before and it's honours even, with one win apiece and two draws. They last squared up in the last 16 of the Champions League three years ago and PSG won 2-0 in Paris to claim a 3-2 aggregate victory after losing in Dortmund.
Paris St-Germain's last home game in Europe was also against German opposition and they lost 1-0 to Bayern Munich to bring up a bet for our man Mark.
Players to watch
It's hard to look past Mbappe for a PSG goal after netting six goals in just four outings for his club this season. The talismanic striker is just 10/11 at Bet365 for a goal but backing him to score the opener increases the odds to 3/1 with the same firm.
Donyell Malen has also been scoring freely for Borussia Dortmund, with four goals in five games. The Dutchman is 4/1 at Unibet for anytime scorer which looks a bit overpriced based on his record so far this season. He's also evens at Unibet just to have a shot on target.
Anything else catch the eye?
We should see goals in this one with BTTS landing in all but one game for both of these sides this term. That's why backing both to score pays just 8/13 here with William Hill while over 2.5 goals is also tiny at 4/7 with Bet365. Over 1.5 first-half goals is better and that pays 7/5 at Coral.
It should be a close game and that makes the 29/20 available at McBookie for either side to win by a one-goal margin worth a look. The card markets are also worth investigating and Dortmund's Emre Can looks overpriced at 49/20 (Unibet) after four yellows in seven games this term. PSG new boy Milan Skriniar likes a hefty challenge and he's 21/4 with the same firm for a card.
This UEFA Champions League match between Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund will be played on Sep 19, 2023 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Paris Saint-Germain vs Borussia Dortmund prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
2-2 CS
2-2 CS