Lucien Favre’s Borussia Dortmund welcome Ernesto Valverde’s Barcelona to the Westfalenstadion for their opening Champions League Group F clash. With Inter taking on Salvia Prague earlier in the day, both teams will want to start off with a bang as it’s going to be between Dortmund, Barca and Inter for the two qualification places.

Dortmund vs Barcelona Betting Tips and Predictions: Dortmund

Dortmund are only six matches into their season, one being the Super Cup opener against old rivals Bayern Munich which they won 2-0 thanks to goals from Paco Alcacer and Jadon Sancho. Since then the Schwarzgelben have won 3/4 Bundesliga matches, beating Augsburg, Cologne and Bayer Leverkusen, netting 12 times in those four matches. They did, however, lose to Bundesliga new boys Union Berlin 3-1 in Berlin so they can be rattled and while they still love getting forward swarming teams with attacks they can be a little lackadaisical at the back.

Dortmund will be without Polish defender Lukasz Piszczek and German midfielder Nico Schulz. Germany’s Marco Reus and Spain’s Alcacer have been in great form already this season, scoring three and five goals in their four league matches this season, while England’s Sancho has scored twice in four matches. He also scored twice for England against Kosovo last weekend so he’ll be eager to keep up a good record and make a solid start in a new Champions League campaign.

Dortmund vs Barcelona Betting Tips and Predictions: Barcelona

Barcelona’s season hasn’t gotten off to the best of starts, two wins, one draw and one loss in their four La Liga matches. They have though been without their main attacking threats of Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez, but Suarez did come off the bench last weekend and scored twice in a 5-2 victory over Seville at the Nou Camp.

New signing Antoine Griezmann has now scored twice in his four matches for the Catalans and while it looked like he wasn’t exactly fitting into Valverde’s system in his first few matches those goals will have settled the ship and it looks like he’s establishing a relationship with the other Barcelona attackers now. Messi could feature here, he’s going to be flying to Germany with the squad and has returned to training over the past few days.

Dortmund vs Barcelona Betting Tips and Predictions: Stats

Of Dortmund’s six matches so far this season, they’ve won five and lost one. Over 2.5 goals has occurred in 4/6, while BTTS has landed in 3/6.

Of Barcelona’s four matches so far this season, they’ve won two, drawn one and lost one. Over 2.5 goals has occurred in 3/4, while BTTS has landed in 3/4 also.

Dortmund vs Barcelona Betting Tips and Predictions: Tips and Predictions

The Asian Handicap line opened at 0.5 and has moved to 0.25 giving Dortmund less of an advantage, should Messi start we reckon it will move back to 0.5 or higher even. The goal line opened at 3 at 1.94 and has fallen to 1.84 with the market expecting goals here.

We’re going for an unusual bet here, Both Teams to Score in the Second Half at 2.60. In all but one of their matches this season Dortmund have scored two, or more, second half goals. In three of Barcelona’s four La Liga matches they’ve also scored two or more second half goals, so our bet is BTTS Second Half Goals at 2.60.