Club Brugge vs Borussia Dortmund Prediction: Trio to combine for 13/2 bet builder in Belgium

After a one-season absence, Club Brugge are back in the Uefa Champions League, and they kick off their campaign this year with a League Phase game against the 2023/24 beaten finalists, Borussia Dortmund, who they host at the Jan Breydel Stadion on Wednesday (20:00, TNT Sports 5).

Read below for my Club Brugge vs Borussia Dortmund prediction and all the latest team news ahead of this midweek meeting in Belgium.

Team News

Dutch defender Bjorn Meijer has missed all seven of Club Brugge's Jupiler Pro League games this season through injury and will miss out on the club's first Champions League match in the new-look competition.

Danish midfielder Casper Nielsen hasn't featured since being substituted in the 65th minute of a 1-0 defeat at Standard Liege on August 4, and he remains sidelined for the visit of Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday.

However, Kyriani Sabbe is back for Brugge, with the 19-year-old Belgian making his comeback from injury in Saturday's 3-0 win at Kortrijk.

Head coach Nicky Hayden is unlikely to make too many changes from that victory at the Guldensporen Stadion, but Nigerian midfielder Raphael Onyedika and Belgian teenager Chemsdine Talbi - who scored as a substitute at the weekend - are options if he decides to make a couple of alterations to his starting XI.

Football Odds

The visitors will be without Giovanni Reyna again after the American missed Friday night's 4-2 win against Heidenheim with a groin injury.

Nico Schlotterbeck is back available, though, after the German defender missed his side's last game through suspension. The 24-year-old could replace Ramy Bensebaini at left-back, or one of Waldemar Anton or Niklas Sule at centre-back.

Club captain Emre Can was dropped to the bench against Heidenheim but the Germany international could be reinstated to the starting XI at the expense of compatriot Felix Nmecha, while Austria skipper Marcel Sabitzer could provide further experience in Belgium.

There's competition up top, too, with Maximilian Beier hoping to get the nod ahead of Serhou Guirassy, who made his Dortmund debut from the off last Friday.

Club Brugge vs Borussia Dortmund Odds

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Brugge are 13/5 to win on their return to the big time, giving Blauw-Zwart an implied win probability of 27.8%, while Dortmund are 1/1, or a 50% chance, to triumph in their first game back in the competition since suffering the ultimate disappointment against Real Madrid in June.

The draw can be backed at 13/5, both teams to score at 4/7, and over 2.5 total goals at 4/6.

Guirassy (5/1) is favourite to open the scoring, followed by teammate Beier (11/2), with the duo priced at 6/4 and 9/5 respectively in the anytime scorer market. Brugge forward Gustaf Nilsson leads the way in the first (15/2) and anytime (12/5) scorer list for the hosts.

Bet Builder - Maxim De Cuyper (BRU) 1+ Shots, Nico Schlotterbeck 1+ Shots (DOR), Emre Can (DOR) Carded @ 13/2

Dortmund are rightly favourites heading into Wednesday's contest but I'm finding it difficult to predict how the game will finish, so for my first tip, I'm heading to the player markets to draw up a three-legged bet builder.

The first selection of this 13/2 effort requires Brugge defender Maxim De Cuyper to take at least one shot at the Jan Breydel Stadion. The 23-year-old is one of the more recognisable names on the home side as he is a Belgium international, starting their 3-1 Uefa Nations League victory over Israel earlier this month.

De Cuyper mostly plays as a left-back but he still regularly finds himself in dangerous positions, directly contributing to 13 strikes (three goals, 10 assists) in the Jupiler Pro League last season, while a two-season long loan spell at Westerlo yielded 10 (six goals, four assists) and 16 (nine goals, seven assists) across the 2021/22 and 2022/23 campaigns.

The two-cap international also struck twice in the Uefa Europa Conference League last season and weighed in with four assists. He averaged 0.8 shots per game across 10 outings (nine starts) in that competition, the same number he averaged across 37 appearances (30 starts) in the Jupiler Pro League where, this season, he is averaging 1.1 shots per game, helped by the two efforts he took in the second half of Saturday's match.

Should Schlotterbeck play at left-back on Wednesday, the best route to goal may be down Dortmund's right-hand side, which could see De Cuyper and Christos Tzolis look to double up on the more attacking Julian Ryerson, and that may open up an opportunity for Brugge's full-back to strike at goal.

Talking of Schlotterbeck, I'm also picking him to muster at least one shot in Brugge. The Germany international missed last Friday's victory over Heidenheim but will expect to return to the starting XI in midweek, and he's usually good for a shot or two.

Schlotterbeck averaged 0.8 shots per game in the Bundesliga last season, halving that in the Champions League, but is already at 1.5 in the league this term after taking two efforts against Eintracht Frankfurt and one versus Werder Bremen in his last club outing. His last appearance in any competition, meanwhile, saw the Germany international miss with a header in the 12th minute of a Nations League clash with the Netherlands last Tuesday.

The former Freiburg man is a big danger from set-pieces and that is an area Dortmund will look to exploit in Belgium.

The third and final selection of this bet builder centres around Dortmund skipper Can, who I expect to join Schlotterback in the starting XI tomorrow. The 30-year-old could be key in his side's away matches in the competition, adding some vital experience in the middle of midfield.

Can is an aggressive player, as evidenced by the four yellows he received in last season's Champions League, one fewer than he was awarded in the Bundesliga despite starting half the games he managed in the German top flight.

The ex-Liverpool hasn't been booked yet this term but made two fouls in his last Dortmund start against Bremen and one in his 64 minutes of action for Germany versus the Netherlands last week.

He may be called upon to make a tactical foul or two in Brugge, heightening his chances of being jotted down in the referee's notebook.

Anytime Scorer - Hans Vanaken (BRU) @ 4/1

At 4/1, I like the odds of Brugge's Hans Vanaken finding the net in Wednesday's contest.

The 6ft5in attacking midfielder is in his testimonial year at the club having made his debut in 2015, signing from Lokeren where he had spent the previous two seasons.

Vanaken has gone on to score over 100 goals in blue and black, with 19 of his strikes coming in continental competition, including nine in the Champions League. He blanked in Brugge's last appearance in the competition, going goalless across eight games in 2022/23, but he was back in form for them in Europe last season, scoring six times in 11 Europa Conference League matches.

The 32-year-old is already on two in this year's Jupiler Pro League, bagging a brace on Saturday to open his account, and given Dortmund's vulnerabilities from set-pieces last season - the German giants conceded 10 times from set-pieces in the 2023/24 Bundesliga - the Belgian will believe that he has the beating of most of their defenders in the air.

Offers

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