Koln vs Borussia Dortmund 24/08/19

24 August 2019

Koln and Borussia Dortmund will face-off at the RheinEnergieStadion in a match that will open the third round of the 2019/20 Bundesliga fixtures.

A 2-1 away loss to Wolfsburg means that the returnees have failed to pick up a win in their last eight BL fixtures stretching back to 2017/18 (D2, L6). What’s more, the Billy Goats have struggled to pull off a triumph in seven of their previous eight opening home BL matches (W1, D3, L4) even though they’ve been carrying a 1-0 lead to the halftime in half of those fixtures. A frustrating tradition is unlikely to end here, considering the newly-promoted hosts are winless in their last five H2Hs with BVB (D3, L2). Probably the only encouraging fact for the home side is that they’ve suffered just one defeat in their previous four H2Hs with BVB at this venue (W2, D1, L1), with all of those clashes seeing both teams score while three of them saw Koln score precisely two goals.

Meanwhile, the visitors have won all 11 of their previous outings, friendlies included. A strong start to the new league campaign has seen BVB sweep Augsburg aside with a commanding 5-1 home win in opening day to stretch their unbeaten run in all competitions to five games (W4, D1). If Dortmund win here, it will probably see Koln concede multiple goals, as all ten of their previous BL triumphs saw them score 2+ match goals. However, just three clean sheets in ten away games in all competitions since the turn of the year means the last season’s BL runners-up have defensive problems, especially as they’ve allowed over 1.5 match goals on exactly half of those occasions.