Dortmund “too naive” to stop Man City as bold Haaland prediction made for UCL clash
Manchester City could benefit from a “naive” approach by Borussia Dortmund in Wednesday’s Champions League contest at the Etihad Stadium, Citizens expert Steven McInerney tells Sports Mole.
Manchester City could benefit from a “naive” approach by Borussia Dortmund in Wednesday’s Champions League contest at the Etihad Stadium, Citizens expert Steven McInerney from Esteemed Kompany has told Sports Mole.
After three League Phase fixtures in the 2025-26 campaign, Man City and Dortmund are both unbeaten with seven points each, with the latter sitting sixth and the former in seventh, separated only by goal difference in the 36-team table.
Man City were held to a frustrating 2-2 draw with Monaco on matchday two, but they bounced back a fortnight ago with a routine 2-0 win away against Villarreal – the same scoreline by which they defeated Napoli in their opening fixture.
As for Dortmund, they have remarkably scored exactly four goals in each of their first three Champions League matches, with a thrilling 4-4 draw with Juventus taking place in between victories against Athletic Bilbao (4-1) and Copenhagen (4-2).
Niko Kovac’s attack-minded team have only lost one of their 14 competitive fixtures in all competitions this season (a 2-1 defeat to Bayern Munich) and they are currently enjoying a four-game winning run, most recently beating Augsburg 1-0 last Friday to climb up to third in the Bundesliga table.
McInerney has acknowledged that Dortmund have a plethora of talented players who could cause problems to Man City at the Etihad, but he has questioned whether they will approach Wednesday’s match in the right way to get the better of Pep Guardiola’s side.
‘Dortmund will be too naive for this Man City side’“Based off their Champions League performances so far, I’m expecting it to be open and I’m expecting there to be goals,” McInerney told Sports Mole.
“I expect [Dortmund] won’t score four against Manchester City. It could be famous last words, touch wood and all that, but I’d be amazed if that happens, and I think it’s more likely they concede four.
“I’m pretty confident going into this. I know [Dortmund are] in good form and they’ve got a few City links as well with Felix Nmecha and Yan Couto. They’ve got some quality players like [Julian] Brandt, [Serhou] Guirassy and Jude’s brother Jobe Bellingham is there.
“They play very aggressive, they’re very attacking, in good form, won six out of nine so far in the Bundesliga [but] I think they’ll be too naive for this City side.
“They’re scoring a lot of goals [but] they’re obviously open at the back, and the way Man City handle Bournemouth gives me quite a bit of confidence that we should be okay against Dortmund.”
McInerney added: “I’m expecting it to be a fun game. They’ll probably score, because they seem to be pretty good at putting the ball in the back of the net.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Nmecha scores against us, given it’s his former club, but I’m confident. I think we’ll be fine in this one. I think, as I said, it’s more likely to be four [goals] for us than for them.”
“Irrepressibly brilliant” Haaland motivated to thrive against former clubMan City’s leading marksman Erling Haaland is expected to face his former club, with the prolific striker out to break another Champions League scoring record on Wednesday.
McInerney believes that Haaland will be as motivated as ever to perform against his former employers and expects another “special” performance from Norwegian, who has scored a remarkable 26 goals in just 16 games for club and country this season.
“Haaland is irrepressibly brilliant right now,” said McInerney. “It’s so hard to try and find something new to talk about him, but there is new elements to his game, I would argue.
“I think City are utilising him a little bit better, they’re a lot more direct, more vertical, as you would say. We’re getting up the pitch a lot quicker and he’s finding a bit more space on the counter.
“I think there’s much more of a willingness for him to get involved and to be the leader. You can only presume, going back to his former club, there’s even more of a motivation to show his former club, ‘look how much I’ve grown, look who I am now. I am not just that kid who left with this talent. I’m a man’.
Haaland to score a hat-trick for Man City against Dortmund?“He’s also a father, he’s one of the captains of Manchester City Football Club, one of the greatest sides in the world, and he’s broken an absurd amount of records since he left Dortmund.
“Haaland does not need motivation to score goals, but there is motivation here, so I expect he could do something special.”
McInerney has boldly backed Haaland to score a hat-trick in a statement with for Man City against Dortmund, but whether he stays on the pitch long enough to claim the match ball remains to be seen.
Haaland scored his 12th and 13th Premier League goals of the season in Man City’s 3-1 home victory over Bournemouth last weekend, but he was withdrawn on a hat-trick for the 15th time under Guardiola with nine minutes remaining.
“He’s due a hat-trick. He keeps getting so close to a hat-trick in a City shirt,” said McInerney before predicting Man City to win 4-1, adding: “I think we are going to bag four (goals). It seems to be the Dortmund thing, and I think Haaland will grab a hat-trick.”
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