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Borussia Dortmund vs Paris Saint Germain Predictions and 2020 Champions League Round of 16 Preview


by Doc's Sports - 2/17/2020

Lukasz Piszczek

When Borussia Dortmund and Paris Saint Germain clash on Tuesday in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 matchup, it will be a meeting between teams who feel as if they are ready to take the next step in the competition and finally get past the Round of 16. 

 

The last time Dortmund won the Champions League was way back in 1997 when they beat Juventus by a score of 3-1. They've only been back to the Finals once, where they lost to fellow Germans Bayern Munich by a score of 2-1. The German outfit is a very exciting team to watch, especially at home where the Westfalenstadion is one of the noisiest grounds left in the competition. 

 

As for Paris Saint Germain, the eight-time Ligue 1 winners have never reached the UEFA Champions League Final. They are unceremoniously remembered for their collapse in the 2017 Round of 16, where they took a 4-0 home win into the Camp Nou and proceeded to get embarrassed by Barcelona 6-1 for a shocking exit. Last season, the French side pulled off a similar feat, this time throwing away a 2-0 road win at Manchester United by losing 3-1 at home and going out on the away goals rule. There is just something about this round that the French giant simply can't get past.

 

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As it currently stands, PSG is labeled as -305 favorites to advance to the quarter-finals. If you believe in PSG enough, you can also get them at +700 to win the entire tournament - which is the fourth favorite behind the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City, and Barcelona. Borussia Dortmund, despite their recent run of form, are sitting at +225 to pull off the upset and advance and an even bigger +5000 to lift their second Champions League trophy. If you need some help with deciding on who to choose, Doc's offers up a great soccer service for you that runs almost 24/7/365. You can sign up now by clicking here.

 

First Leg: Westfalenstadion, Dortmund; Tuesday, February 18 @ 3:00 pm
 Second Leg: Parc des Princes, Paris, Wednesday, March 11 @ 4:00 pm

 

Borussia Dortmund Storylines 

 

Borussia Dortmund got back to their winning ways on the weekend courtesy of a 4-0 drubbing against Eintracht Frankfurt. They dominated that game in every facet, and the win bumped them up to third place in the Bundesliga, three points back of second and four points back of leaders, Bayern Munich. Dortmund have an embarrassment of riches in their squad. And it begs the question; how many league titles could they win if Bayern Munich wasn't so dominant?

 

Dortmund will like their chances in this fixture as they've gone undefeated in the Champions League since losing at home at this stage last year to Tottenham. As for team news, Dortmund will be without the services of Marco Reus and Thomas Delaney because of injury, while an ankle problem is expected to keep Julian Brandt sidelined as well. We expect Dortmund to line up in a 3-4-3 formation with Thorgan Hazard and Jadon Sancho in support of the Norwegian wunderkind, Erling Haaland.  

 

Probable Starting XI: Burki; Piszczek, Akanji, Hummels; Hakimi, Can, Witsel, Guerreiro; Sancho, Haaland, Hazard

 

Paris Saint Germain Storylines

                                                                           

It was anything but business as usual for PSG this past weekend as they were held to a 4-4 draw against the second-to-last place team Amiens. They do, however, own a 13-point lead in the French domestic league, so perhaps a slipup was always on the cards as they were focused on this upcoming fixture. Like Dortmund, PSG have an embarrassment of riches in attack, perhaps a level above with the likes of Kylian Mbappe and Neymar in the starting 11. To counter the goal-scoring prowess, the French side has given up the least amount of goals in the Champions League this season with just two goals allowed. However, they need to figure out a way to get past this round as they've been eliminated in the Round of 16 in the past three seasons. 

In terms of team news, PSG is fully fit with all the marquee names like Neymar, Mbappe, Di Maria, Verratti, and Icardi all set to start. 

 

Probable Starting XI: Navas; Meunier, Marquinhos, Silva, Bernat; Di Maria, Gueye, Verratti, Neymar; Icardi, Mbappe

 

Borussia Dortmund vs Paris Saint Germain Prediction

 

This fixture may be the most entertaining of the eight matchups, and we expect plenty of goals to be scored by both teams. It should come as no surprise that the first leg total opened up at 3.5 (+105). The spread is a PK, which favors PSG at -140, but you would be a fool to underestimate the home side. In the first leg, we like the "both teams to score" option, but that's quite pricey at -280. If we had to choose a side, we'd grab the plus money with the home side as the Westfalenstadion is an extremely tough place for an away side to win a football match. We'd also side with Dortmund to pull off the upset and advance at +225.

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