Borussia Dortmund vs AS Monaco
Champions League football returns to Dortmund on Thursday, and the famous Yellow will be bouncing if the clash with Monaco goes to form.
Lucien Favre’s Borussia Dortmund have started the season in fine style, sitting proudly at the top of the Bundesliga as well as winning their Champions League opener.
Meanwhile, Leonardo Jardim’s Monaco simply haven’t got going, having won only one in eight league games and languishing in the drop zone in Ligue 1. They are also yet to open their account in this competition.
You could hardly have more contrasting form between two of Europe’s top teams than this, and I’m struggling to see how Monaco can possibly win at the Signal Iduna Park.
Talking Points
Why the fast start in Dortmund?
Favre has had a superb opening to his coaching career at BVB. He made a handful of top summer signings, such as midfielders Thomas Delaney and Axel Witsel and striker Paco Alcacer, who have all settled nicely into a winning club.
His side has shown it knows how to dig in. A fantastic fightback against Bayer Leverkusen lifted BVB to the top of the Bundesliga. At 0-2 down with 25 minutes remaining, Favre’s team took the game to Leverkusen and blew their hosts away. Jacob Bruun Larsen and skipper Marco Reus hauled BVB level before two goals, in the last five minutes, from on-loan Barcelona player Paco Alcacer finished the job.
The Dortmund fans have plenty of young talent to get excited about—with American Christian Pulisic and Jadon Sancho staking their claims—but the German league leaders are still under the radar in European football. The Champions League 2018 odds on a BVB trophy win are right out there at 61.00, and they are at 3.00 to win Group A. Atletico Madrid are clear favourites after the early Champions League results put the Spaniards and Germans in charge.
Why the slow start in Monaco?
In a city famed for its Grand Prix, fabulous beach and nightlife, you’d think the place always moves at a frantic pace, but apparently not its football club.
A 0-2 home defeat to Saint-Etienne has left Monaco in 18th spot. Sure, these are early days, but if things don’t change soon, then the Champions League club could get sucked in to a battle at the wrong end of the table. That shouldn’t happen, and it would have been unthinkable a season or so ago when Jardim’s team was playing some of the most scintillating attacking football in Europe.
But the loss of key players such as Thomas Lemar, Kylian Mbappe and Fabinho has left the French lacking in quality, though they did manage to finish runners-up to PSG in last season’s Ligue 1 campaign.
They still have a big name in Captain Ramadel Falcao, but he’s getting on in years. The Colombian striker has tried to fire up his troops saying: “It’s not just against St Etienne; it’s a terrible start to the championship. We cannot go on like that, we have to raise our heads because on Wednesday we have to go to Dortmund and get a good result.”
Winger Samuel Grandsir was on target in the home defeat to Atletico Madrid, and Falcao will hope the 22-year-old can give him some supply in Dortmund.
History
Regardless of current fortunes, we have two clubs with proud records here.
BVB are eight-time winners of the Bundesliga and have won the Champions League in 1997, as well as reaching the final in 2013 during Jurgen Klopp’s golden reign.
Monaco’s prominence on the European stage has been as recent as 2017, when they reached the final of the Champions League, as well as interrupting PSG’s dominance in France by winning Ligue 1. The only meeting between these two sides happened in that 2017 Champions League run, and the result shows just how different their paths have been since.
Monaco put Dortmund out of the competition 6-3 on aggregate, with the departed Mbappe scoring three goals over the two legs.
Betting Tip
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Borussia Dortmund vs AS Monaco | Dortmund Asian Handicap -1.50 @ 1.97 |
| October 04, 03:00 (GMT+8) |
The SBOBET odds show the size of the task facing Monaco, with the hosts at 1.32 to win. The draw is at odds of 5.00 while a Monaco victory is way out at 8.50.
It seems amazing how quickly the French have fallen, that is until you consider the flow of talent out of the door. In Jardim, they have a coach who is a winner, and they should start soon in Ligue 1. However, this test is likely to be too much for them, against a BVB team on the crest of a wave and brimming with talent. At odds of 1.96 with the +1.50 start, Monaco will do well to win.
For an alternative, and if you think BVB won’t leave things as late as they did at the weekend, the hosts are at 1.89 to be ahead at the break, while the most likely full-time scoreline is 2-0 at 7.00.
A SHORT EXPLANATION ON HOW OUR ( ) BETS ARE WORTH: |
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| = €20 (Highly confident) |
 = €10 (CONFIDENT) |
= €5 (SOMEWHAT CONFIDENT) |
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Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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