The Daily Bee: Champions League Game Day

What an exciting day! Champions League football will light up Europe this evening, with the first round of group stage matches taking place. Borussia Dortmund welcome FC Copenhagen, who will be eager to do some damage in their return to the UCL. Let’s discuss them a bit.

Copenhagen currently sits sixth in the Danish Superliga, collecting four wins and four losses from eight games. Hot-and-cold describes their form about as well as possible. in 2021-2022, they topped the league with a staggering 20 wins and only four recorded losses. They were narrowly able to beat out FC Midtjylland who have commonly run out Champions. A 2-1 scoreline against Trabzonspor in the first leg was enough to carry Copenhagen through the UCL playoffs and into group G.

The summer window saw the loss of attacking midfielder Pep Biel to Olympiakos. The Spaniard netted eleven times for Copenhagen last season and laid on six assists, making him their most productive attacker in both categories. His loss will have been a huge blow to a side re-entering the UCL, and their domestic record shows the team has struggled to replace his output. (FBref, Transfermarkt)

In Dortmund news, both Jamie Bynoe-Gittens and Mahmoud Dahoud have been ruled out until at least after the World Cup, with surgeries due on their shoulders. This is a wild one, I’ve never seen so many shoulder dislocations to start a season.

I really feel for these two lads, who will have been hoping to cement their place in the team among the solid competition. Hopefully, Edin Terzic is prepared to cope with these injuries, but he may have to turn to the youth, as Dortmund often does, to plug the new holes in the squad. Today will give us a chance to see what the head coach has in mind!

Enjoy the game today, folks!