UEFA Champions League: Borussia Dortmund vs. Lazio Preview, Odds, Prediction

The match between Borussia Dortmund and Lazio is of the utmost significance for both teams. Whoever wins here will have a clear path towards the next stage, while the loser might experience unnecessary pressure in the last round. At the moment, Dortmund tops the table with 9 points, while Lazio sits behind with 8, four more than Club Brugge. The Eagles defeated Borussia in the opening match of the competition, which gives an additional motive to the hosts, who are looking pretty inconsistent lately. 

Preview 

Borussia Dortmund (-180) lost the most recent match at home against FC Koln, 1-2, surprising the entire world. The Billy Goats were at the bottom of Bundesliga, but still, they managed to pull an upset at Signal Iduna and inflict the Millionaires their second defeat at home in the past three games. That previous one was against Bayern Munich, 2-3.

The match vs. Koln was the first after eight straight and the one in Rome against Lazio, in which Borussia couldn’t score twice or more. However, it was the fifth in a row with over 2.5 goals. 

Borussia is inconsistent at home lately, but all the games they’ve won at Signal Iduna this year saw them keeping clean sheets.

Lazio (+400) too lost this weekend, suffering a knockout at home against Udinese, 1-3. It was the first defeat for Simone Inzaghi’s guys after eight matches, and the second at Olimpico this season.

The Eagles are playing open and attractive football, and goals are frequent with them on the pitch. From 13 contests this team had since the beginning of the campaign, 10 saw scores on both sides, which tells a lot about Lazio’s overall play philosophy.

Their recent results on the road are mixed, with two wins and draws each and one loss over five events. Though, the Eagles are undefeated for four straight. 

Latest News

Several of Borussia’s important players won’t appear tonight. Guerreiro, Meunier, Schmelzer, Schulz, and Zagadou. 

On the other side, Escalante, Lulic, Proto and Muriqui are out of the picture for Inzaghi. 

Head to Head Matches

The first leg saw Lazio routinely handling Borussia with 3-1. The Eagles scored twice inside the opening 20 minutes, through Immobile and Hitz’s own goal. Haaland gave some hope to the guests in the 71st minute, but five minutes later, Akpa Akpro set the final result after Immobile’s assist. 

Prediction

Both Borussia and Lazio need to step up and prevent what might be a start of the crisis or some poor stretch. Losing two in a row would most definitely hurt the team’s morale, and on top of that put the loser in a tough spot before the last round. 

Dortmund will try to dominate right from the start, but we believe that Lazio might start the match a bit more cautiously and conservatively. Due to this, our recommendation would be to bet on goals in the second 45 minutes, once the action heats up and the pressure increases. Over 1.5 scores in that sequence are priced at -115, and for us, this might be the best bet of the day.