Copenhagen vs Borussia Dortmund: Probable UEFA Champions League Teams, Match Stats & LIVE Blog!

Jude Bellingham helped ensure Borussia Dortmund already qualified for the UEFA Champions League round of 16, but on Wednesday they will look to end the group stage with a win over Viktor Claesson and Copenhagen (kick dispatch: 21:00 CET).

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Bellingham travels to Denmark and seems to be improving as the game progresses. The England midfielder was Dortmund’s hero again this weekend, earning a second-half winner in the 2-1 win at Eintracht Frankfurt. The 19-year-old has also excelled in Europe this season, with one of his four group stage goals coming in the opening matchday success against Copenhagen in Germany. Dortmund are guaranteed to finish second following their draw with Manchester City last week, so Edin Terzic could make some changes for this game. With €2.8m on offer for each group stage win – as well as a sizable injury list – he might not tinker too much. Julian Brandt had to be taken out against Eintracht so one of the players could be rested.

Claesson and Copenhagen have failed to score in the Champions League since the Swede found the net in the 2-1 home win against Turkish side Trabzonspor that took them to the group stage. This is one of the reasons why the Danes will want to end with a victory this week. Another is that despite being bottom of the group, they are still unbeaten at home having held both Manchester City and Sevilla to a scoreless draw in front of their own support. Copenhagen are sixth in the Danish Superliga and have a lot of ground to gain from the top two domestically. Midfielder Lukas Lerager and Ajax loanee Mohamed Daramy scored the goals in a weekend win at Randers, however, and both will likely feature as the home side aim for a better result in Europe than the 3-0 loss to Sevilla on matchday five. Denis Vavro could replace suspended defender Davit Khocholava.

Match statistics

  • Bellingham have nine goals in all competitions this season. He has scored four goals in his last four matches for Dortmund.
  • Gio Reyna had two assists in the teams’ first encounter, when Marco Reus, Raphael Guerreiro and Bellingham netted in a 3-0 win.
  • Dortmund are undefeated against Danish teams. They had a win and a draw against Brondby in the 1993/94 UEFA Cup in the only other fixtures before that season.
  • Sweden international Claesson has scored seven league goals this season, as well as one in Champions League qualifying.
  • Copenhagen have never beaten Bundesliga opposition in UEFA competition in 11 attempts.
  • The home side are hoping to avoid becoming the fourth team to go through a Champions League group stage without scoring a goal. Deportivo La Coruña (2004/05), Maccabi Haifa (2009/10) and Dinamo Zagreb (2016/17) have failed to do so in the past.

Probable teams

Copenhagen: Grabara – Jelert, Vavro, Lund Jensen, Kristiansen – Lerager, Clem, Claesson – Bardghji, Haraldsson, Daramy
Uncertain : –
Out: Khocholava (suspended)
Coach: Jacob Neestrup

Dortmund: Kobel – Süle, Hummels (c), Schlotterbeck – Adeyemi, Özcan, Bellingham, Hazard – Reyna, Moukoko, Malen
Out: Bynoe-Gittens (shoulder), Dahoud (shoulder), Guerreiro (thigh), Haller (testicular cancer), Meunier (broken cheekbone), Morey (knee), Reus (fitness)
Coach: Edin Terzic

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