BORUSSIA Dortmund have a chance to move up into the top eight of the Champions League standings in midweek. As strong match favourites, will BVB pick off Sturm Graz? Here we preview Borussia Dortmund vs Sturm Graz on Tuesday, November 5th from the Signal Iduna Park.
How the bookies view it: Dortmund odds-on for the win
Borussia Dortmund are at 1/6 with Bet365 to pick up the victory, which is a clear indicator of their expected dominance in this fixture. This appears to be a very winnable match for them against Sturm Graz, who are massive 11/1 underdogs pre-match. This looks like reasonable odds on the match outright, given the standings between the two clubs.
Recent head-to-head: First meeting coming up
Borussia Dortmund and Sturm Graz will meet for the first time competitively on Tuesday.
Players to watch: Guirassy key for Dortmund?
Borussia Dortmund don’t have any issues in front of goals, as they are a free-flowing, attacking side. The German side have three players who have scored three goals each in their Champions League campaign so far. Of them, it’s the main man up top Serhou Guirassy who is the stand-out pick in the goalscorer markets, given that the others, Karim Adeyemi and Jamie Gittens are more midfield-based players.
Austrian side Sturm Graz haven’t hit the back of the net in this season’s Champions League. If they do get a breakthrough, that will mostly likely come from forward Mika Biereth who has eight goals in twelve league appearances for them this season.
Predicted Lineups
Borussia Dortmund are still missing a few players, like Jan Couti and Julian Ryerson, but we're happy to see Felix Nmecha in action on the weekend in a 2-1 league win over RB Leipzig, after it looks as if the midfielder would miss through injury. There’s no major team news out of Sturm Graz ahead of the fixture.
Borussia Dortmund: Meyer, Schlotterbeck, Bensebaini, Gross, Can, Nmecha, Brandt, Beier, Sabitzer, Gittens, Guirassy
Sturm Graz; Scherpen, Gazibegovic, Lavalee, Geyrhofer, Airu, Yahoo, Kiteishvili, Boving, Chukwuani, Biereth, Jatta
Anything else catch the eye?
Borussia Dortmund boss Nuri Sahin got a pressure-relieving league win over Leipzig on the weekend. That made BVB the first team to defeat Leipzig in this season’s Bundesliga and it ended a run of three straight losses for Dortmund in all competitions.
BVB started the Champions League well this season with big wins over Club Brugge and Celtic, but then blew a 2-0 lead at Real Madrid to suffer a crushing 5-2 defeat. They have been patchy with their form this season, but their troubles have predominantly been on the road. At the Signal Iduna, Borussia Dortmund have a perfect six wins from six in all competitions, scoring at least two goals in each of those wins.
Sturm Graz have found the going tough in the Champions League and they have some bigger challenges still to come, like this one. Defeats against Brest, Club Brugge and Sporting have left them with just one goal to their name and zero points. Away from home this season in all competitions, the Austrians have just one clean sheet from eight matches, so will likely have trouble containing Dortmund’s attack and a high-scoring game is expected.
This UEFA Champions League match between Borussia Dortmund and Sturm Graz will be played on Nov 5, 2024 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Borussia Dortmund vs Sturm Graz prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
