Pre-Match Report
BVB on four-game winning run in Belgium
The scenario: Club Brugge and Borussia Dortmund are set to face off for the third time in the last seven seasons. Belgium's reigning champions have started off their Jupiler Pro League campaign by taking 13 points from seven rounds of matches and currently occupy top spot in the table. After a poor start (two defeats and one draw), there have recently been four victories on the bounce. Borussia Dortmund sit in second place in the Bundesliga table (two wins, one draw).
Head-to-head record: Both clubs have already faced off four times across two legs in European competitions. While there have been three wins and one draw for BVB in home matches (statistically speaking, the 5-4 penalty shootout defeat in the summer of 2003 is regarded as a victory as it was 2-1 to Dortmund after 120 minutes), the record in away games in Belgium is even. BVB suffered a 5-0 defeat after extra-time in the UEFA Cup round of 16 return leg in 1987 and lost 2-1 in Champions League qualification in 2003. In the opening match of the group phase in 2018, the Black & Yellows claimed a fortunate 1-0 win thanks to Christian Pulisic's late goal; that was followed by a comfortable 3-0 victory in an empty stadium in November 2020 (due to the corona pandemic). Thorgan Hazard and Erling Haaland (twice) had already scored by the half-hour mark.
Elite European football: Borussia Dortmund are taking part in the UEFA Champions League for the 19th time (only 09 clubs have been involved more often), have reached the knockout stages in nine of their last 11 campaigns and have been in the final three times in total (1997, 2013 and 2024). Club Brugge are participating in Europe's elite club competition for the 11th time (and for the sixth time in the last seven years) but have reached the round of 16 on only one occasion (2022/23).
Brugge facts: The club had their most successful international periods in the 1970s and then again towards the end of the 1980s and the start of the 1990s. Their biggest success was reaching the final of the UEFA Cup against Liverpool in 1976 (1-1 at home and 3-2 defeat away). In the following years, Brugge reached the quarter-finals (against M'gladbach in 1977) and the final (against Liverpool in 1978) in the European Champions Cup. In 1988 (against Espanyol) and 1992 (against Werder Bremen), they reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup respectively. It is Brugge's 11th Champions League group phase – one fewer than Belgium's record-holders RSC Anderlecht have to their name. Only three of their last 20 home games in this competition have ended in victory (six draws and 11 defeats). However, Brugge were unbeaten at home in the Conference League last term (six wins, three draws) and reached the semi-finals (1-1 at home and 3-2 defeat against Fiorentina). Their record against German opposition stands at 10 wins, seven draws and 16 defeats. The home record reads: nine wins, two draws and six losses.
Borussia facts: BVB are represented in this competition for the ninth time in a row and the 19th time overall. The Black & Yellows won last season in Newcastle (1-0), Milan (3-1) and Paris (1-0), meaning their record in their last 27 Champions League away matches is almost even (11 wins, four draws and 13 defeats). Their first three European encounters in Belgium ended in defeat, but since then there have been four victories from 2004 onwards, all of them without conceding a goal: 1-0 in Genk, 3-0 away to Anderlecht, and 1-0 and 3-0 in Bruges).
Compiled by Boris Rupert