We look ahead to Wednesday’s UEFA Champions League game at the Etihad Stadium with our Manchester City vs Borussia Dortmund prediction and preview. Will Erling Haaland continue his remarkable scoring form?
Manchester City vs Borussia Dortmund: The Key Stats
Manchester City are the clear favourites, with the Opta supercomputer giving them a 64.5% win probability.
Erling Haaland could become the first player to score in five consecutive UEFA Champions League appearances for as many as three different teams.
This will be the seventh time these teams have faced each other in the Champions League, with the German side only managing one win in the previous six (D2 L3).
A robot celebration for the fans, a comparison to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo by Pep Guardiola, and a fourth consecutive Premier League brace at the Etihad Stadium marked a successful Sunday for Erling Haaland.
But, just a few days after Halloween, Borussia Dortmund will be hoping to avoid being haunted by their former striker when they face Manchester City in the Champions League.
Haaland spent two and a half seasons with Dortmund, scoring 86 goals and providing 19 assists in 89 appearances for the Bundesliga side.
The 25-year-old also led Dortmund to success in the 2020-21 DFB-Pokal, which is still the club’s most recent piece of silverware.
Erling Haaland at Man City vs Borussia Dortmund
Niko Kovac’s side have enjoyed a strong start to the 2025-26 campaign, losing just one of their 14 games this season (a 2-1 loss to Bayern Munich in the league).
They are third in the Bundesliga and sixth in the Champions League (heading into Matchday 4), where only Paris Saint-Germain (13) outscored their 12 goals across the three matchdays.
Indeed, across the opening three matchdays this season, Dortmund have had the biggest positive differential against their expected goals (+7.5), as well as the highest shot conversion rate (37.5%) of any side.
However, BVB failed to keep Harry Kane quiet in their league encounter on 18 October, and will face a similarly daunting task against Haaland on Wednesday. The Norwegian has scored 13 goals in 10 Premier League games this season, and four in three in the Champions League.
Haaland is also looking to make some history against his former club. He could become the first player to score in five consecutive Champions League appearances for as many as three different teams, having previously done so for Red Bull Salzburg (November 2019, five games) and Dortmund (March 2021, six games).
He also scored when Man City last hosted Dortmund in the competition in September 2022, securing a 2-1 win for his side with a stunning acrobatic finish in the 84th minute after John Stones cancelled out Jude Bellingham’s opener.
Haaland has scored at least two goals in each of his last four Premier League home games, too.
Haaland UCL goals
It could be an emotional outing for Haaland, but it is also set to be a special night for Man City captain Bernardo Silva.
An appearance in this game will see him become the fourth Portuguese player to reach 100 games in the competition, after Cristiano Ronaldo (183), Pepe (120) and Luis Figo (103), all three of whom were on the winning side in their 100th games.
Silva will also be hoping to take a leaf out of Haaland’s book as he looks to score in consecutive Champions League appearances for the first time since April 2024, after finding the net against Villarreal last time out.
Man City have kept a clean sheet in two of their three Champions League fixtures this season, but it would not be a surprise to see a goal fest at the Etihad this time around.
Dortmund have scored four goals in each of their last three Champions League matches (4-4 vs Juventus, 4-1 vs Athletic Club and 4-2 vs FC Copenhagen).
They could become the first team in European Cup/Champions League history to score four or more goals in four consecutive games.
BVB xG
Man City, on the other hand, are unbeaten in their last 22 home matches played in the group/league phase of the Champions League (W19 D3), since a 2-1 defeat to Lyon in September 2018.
The only team to stop the Citizens scoring across these 22 games was Inter in September 2024 (0-0), who finished as runners-up in last season’s edition.
And the bravery and attacking mentality instilled by both coaches is clear to see all over the pitch.
Across the first three matchdays of the 2025-26 Champions League campaign, the two defenders with the most line-breaking passes were Man City’s Josko Gvardiol (51) and Dortmund’s Ramy Bensebaini (47).
The sight of Haaland, Rayan Cherki and Phil Foden will be daunting for Dortmund fans, who will also be desperate to get the better of Guardiola.
The Spaniard is unbeaten in his last 10 games against Dortmund across all competitions (W6 D4), with his most recent defeat against them coming in the 2014 Franz Beckenbauer Super Cup final.
All three of his defeats in 15 total matches against the German side (W8 D4) came between 2013 and 2014 during Jürgen Klopp’s reign.
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Manchester City vs Borussia Dortmund Head-to-Head
This will be the seventh time Man City and Dortmund have faced each other in the Champions League, with the Bundesliga outfit only managing one win in the previous six (D2 L3).
City have conceded the opening goal in four of their six Champions League games against Dortmund, but have only lost one of those four (W2 D1) and came back to win in each of the last two when going 1-0 down (2-1 in April 2021 and September 2022).
Man City 2-1 BVB
Similarly, Dortmund have netted the opening goal in two of their three away matches against City in the competition, but have been denied victory on both occasions by goals conceded from the 80th minute onwards (drew 1-1 in October 2012 and lost 2-1 in September 2022).
Manchester City vs Borussia Dortmund Prediction
The Opta supercomputer predicts another Man City victory on Wednesday, giving the hosts a 64.5% win probability.
Dortmund have a 17.1% chance of leaving Manchester with all three points, while the likelihood of a draw is 18.4%.
Man City vs Borussia Dortmund Prediction
Manchester City vs Borussia Dortmund Predicted Lineups
Manchester City: Gianluigi Donnarumma, Matheus Nunes, Ruben Dias, John Stones, Josko Gvardiol, Bernardo Silva, Nico Gonzalez, Rayan Cherki, Phil Foden, Savinho, Erling Haaland.
Head coach: Pep Guardiola
Borussia Dortmund: Gregor Kobel, Waldemar Anton, Nico Schlotterbeck, Ramy Bensebaini, Yan Couto, Pascal Gross, Felix Nmecha, Daniel Svensson, Julian Brandt, Serhou Guirassy, Maximilian Beier.
Head coach: Niko Kovac
Opta Power Rankings
The Opta Power Rankings are a global team ranking system. They assign an ability score to over 15,000 domestic men’s and women’s football teams. This score is on a scale between zero and 100, where zero is the worst-ranked team in the world and 100 is the best team in the world.
Ahead of kick-off on Wednesday, here is the Opta Power Ranking for both sides.
UEFA Champions League Stats Opta
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