Predicting the score of Man City vs Dortmund in the Champions League

Overview

A "robot" celebration for fans, a comparison from Pep Guardiola with the two legends Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, and a fourth consecutive double in the Premier League at the Etihad Stadium ended a perfect weekend for Erling Haaland.

However, just a few days after Halloween, Dortmund hope not to be haunted by their former striker when facing Manchester City in the Champions League.

Haaland has spent two and a half seasons at Dortmund, scoring 86 goals and providing 19 assists in 89 appearances for the Ruhr side. The Norwegian striker also contributed greatly to helping Dortmund win the DFB-Pokal championship in the 2020-2021 season - the club's most recent title to date.

Niko Kovac's team is having an impressive start to the 2025-2026 season, having lost only one of their 14 matches in all competitions (against Bayern Munich with a score of 1-2).

They are currently third in the Bundesliga and sixth in the Champions League before the fourth round. Notably, only Paris Saint-Germain (13 goals) have scored more than 12 of their goals.

In fact, in the first 3 matches of the season in the European arena, Dortmund has the largest number of expected positive goals (+7.5) and the highest chance conversion rate (37.5%) compared to any other team.

However, Dortmund were helpless in stopping Harry Kane and now they will face a similar challenge called Haaland. The Norwegian striker has scored 13 goals in 10 Premier League games this season, and 4 in 3 Champions League games.

Haaland also has the opportunity to make history, becoming the first player to score in five consecutive Champions League games for three different sides - after a similar run with Salzburg (2019) and Dortmund (2021).

In Man City's last visit to Dortmund at the Etihad (September 2022), Haaland scored the decisive goal in the 84th minute.

Notably, Haaland has also scored at least 2 goals/match in the last 4 home matches in the Premier League.

This could be an emotional match for Haaland, but it will also be a special night for Man City captain Bernardo Silva.

If he plays in this match, Silva will become the fourth Portuguese player to reach the milestone of 100 matches in the Champions League, after Cristiano Ronaldo (183), Pepe (120) and Luis Figo (103) - all three of whom won their 100th match.

The Citizens star also hopes to continue to be inspired by Haaland. Silva is aiming to score in 2 consecutive Champions League matches for the first time since April 2024, after scoring against Villarreal in the previous match.

Head-to-head record

This will be the seventh time Man City and Dortmund have met in the Champions League. In the previous six confrontations, the Bundesliga representative has only won one (2 draws, 3 losses).

Man City have conceded four of their six Champions League meetings with Dortmund, but have lost just one of those four (W2 D1). Notably, they have come back to win their last two 0-1 defeats - with the same score of 2-1 in April 2021 and September 2022.

Meanwhile, Dortmund opened the scoring in 2/3 visits to Man City in the Champions League, but could not keep the victory. Both times, they conceded after the 80th minute - drawing 1-1 in October 2012 and losing 1-2 in September 2022.

Score prediction: Man City 3-2 Dortmund