Borussia Dortmund urgently needs a victory in the Champions League. The big question is: who will score the goals against Newcastle United?
The hits scored at Borussia Dortmund are expandable – so far there is zero in the Champions League. Against Newcastle United, the black and yellow need at least one goal and a win on Wednesday (October 24th, 2023) in order not to fall behind in the fight for advancement after the third matchday.
Brandt most successful Protect
You can only achieve success with your own hits. BVB has to take this or the old football adage “score one more goal than the opponent” to heart. In return, Dortmund would like what Newcastle already has: a real goalscorer. While former Dortmund player Alxander Isak already has six Premier League goals for the Magpies, BVB’s best shooter of the season is Julian Brandt.
The midfielder scored three goals – just as many as Donyell Malen and Marco Reus. Striker Niclas Füllkrug is at their two. Now one could argue that BVB is difficult to predict with so many goalscorers or some would also say: BVB is still unbeaten in the league and is at least fourth.
Dortmund will have to do without defender Julian Ryerson, otherwise all players will be fit. “We have gained stability and are in good shape,” said sports director Sebastian Kehl positively.
BVB lacks a real goalscorer
But if you take a closer look at the table, the difference to the top trio in the Bundesliga becomes clear. The first three clubs have at least 25 own goals, BVB “only” 17. The first three clubs owe this primarily to their attackers: Stuttgart has Serhou Guirassy, Leverkusen has Victor Boniface and Bayern’s Harry Kane also celebrates regularly. All of them have at least seven hits. BVB lacks such an accurate attacker.
The view of the Champions League is even more devastating. After a 0:2 against Paris and a poor 0-0 draw against Milan hasn’t even met Dortmund there yet. So who should score the goals? Sebastien Haller was brought in last year – who impressed internationally at Ajax Amsterdam and Eintracht Frankfurt. But cancer stopped him and since his recovery he has been looking for the form of his old days.
Newcastle in top form
So the storm was followed up this summer. It came with Füllkrug, Germany’s number one national striker. He works a lot and puts himself at the service of the team – he only has problems with scoring himself, unlike in Bremen. At the moment he is mainly creating holes for the players who score.
These professionals come from the attacking midfield and are the best scorers – Reus, Brandt and Malen. However, Paris showed BVB how they can effectively take this line out of the game. Newcastle will now try something similar. The BVB officials can also find out in Paris how well the English are doing: PSG lost 1:4 in northern England on the second matchday of the premier class. The English have now been unbeaten for a total of seven games.
Dortmund needs the win
However, something like PSG cannot happen to Dortmund. With a defeat, BVB would almost be out of the fight for advancement. The “Magpies” already have four points and seven with a possible win. Paris or Milan, unless they draw, at least five. And Dortmund? Only with one. “We know that we now have to score points in our home games, but also in Newcastle, in order to stay in the race,” said Kehl.
Where there is the worst scenario described, there is of course also room for the optimal case. That means: Dortmund wins, the parallel game ends in a draw and suddenly BVB is back in Group F, level on points with the English and PSG. All you have to do is someone wearing a black and yellow jersey hit the goal – once more than the opponent.
