Borussia Dortmund vs Sporting CP Prediction: Both teams to score looks a great shout

Borussia Dortmund host Sporting Lisbon in the second leg of their Playoff match in Lisbon on Wednesday night, kick-off time 17:45, live on TNT Sports 4.  

Jamie Pacheco is tipping a bet at a shorter price than usual but it’s a good one, so keep on reading as he really likes this one. You can read his preview below along with his Borussia Dortmund vs Sporting CP Prediction...

*You can check out all of the Football Odds we offer over at betfred.com

Borussia Dortmund  

Even though we thought Sporting looked a bit short in the betting ahead of the first leg, the 3-0 away win for Dortmund caught us a bit by surprise.  

But they were better on all the key metrics – possession, shots on target, corners etc – so whereas the scoreline looked a bit inflated, they were clearly the better side with former Brighton man Pascal Gross scoring the second to cap off a good display by the midfielder, curiously just his first goal of the season.  

They did lose 2-0 to Bochum at the weekend but with a mediocre season on the domestic front, it's understandable they were eyeing up this match and won't be taking risk by assuming it's 100% over. 

Likely XI: Kobel, Schlotterbeck, Svensson, Can, Ryerson, Brandt, Gross, Ozcan, Adeyemi, Gittens, Guirassy.   

Sporting Lisbon  

In the end the absences of Viktor Gyokeres, Morita and Hjulmand proved too much for a side who doesn't have a strong enough squad to cope with being without three such important players. 

Hjulamand returns from suspension and Gyokeres should be close to full fitness and should start too but it's likely to be too little too late as recovering from a 3-0 first leg home defeat is almost impossible, if history has taught us anything.  

They were also sluggish in drawing 2-2 at home to Arouca, a game where skipper Hjulmand was sent off for two bookable offences, one of which was a result of giving away a needless penalty; but of course Hjulmand will be available for this one. The also lost Daniel Braganca to injury in that match, so he'll be missed.  

Likely XI: Silva, Araujo, Fresneda, Inacio, St Juste, Simoes, Debast, Hjulmand, Quenda, Trincao, Gyokeres.    

Borussia Dortmund vs Sporting CP Odds 

Dortmund are 10/11, implied probability of 52%, with the draw 3/1 (25%) and Sporting slightly shorter at 11/4 (26.7%).  

It's one of those where to an extent you could make a case for all three outcomes from a 'sports' perspective but none of the three prices stand out as particularly good value wagers from a betting perspective, so we'll leave it alone entirely.  

Both Teams to Score 

If ever there was a match that was made for a both teams to score game, then it might be this one.  

When Sporting failed to find the net in the first leg, it was the first time in 11 games that had happened and it's now four of the last five where both teams have scored in Sporting matches.  

Simplistic as it sounds, they need to go for it and at least they'll want to go down fighting rather than settling for a 0-0 draw or so and feeling like they weren't ambitious enough.  

As for Dortmund, they're normally a good side to be backing for BTTS matches, too. Prior to that 3-0 last week, thy were on a run of five straight BTTS across three Bundesliga games and two Champions League ones so that's a good omen. And again, obvious as it sounds, if they managed three away, they should be good for at least one here.  

Anytime Goalscorers 

That man Gyokeres - a favourite of this column - looks fairly-priced at 11/8 to score anytime despite missing out on scoring at the weekend. Fellow forward Trincao, who did score at the weekend and now has nine for the season could also be worth a look at 11/4.  

For Dortmund, Jamie Gittens has now gone eight games without scoring but he was in good form before that and has 11 for the season in all competitions. He's 12/5 to score anytime and 15/2 to be first goalscorer.  

Jamie Pacheco predominantly covers Cricket and European Football for us at Betfred Insights. You can check out his Football Betting Tips, along with those from the rest of the team, at our Football hub page...