Borussia Dortmund vs. Athletic Bilbao Champions League preview: Team news and predicted lineups

Team news, predicted lineups and key insights ahead of Borussia Dortmund Vs Athletic Club Bilbao in the Champions League.

UEFA Champions League action returns for Matchday 2 as Borussia Dortmund host Athletic Bilbao in their first European fixture at the Westfalenstadion this season. Kick-off is scheduled for 21:00 CET on Wednesday evening. 

The club from the famous Basque region in Spain endured a difficult start to the league phase. Despite playing well for much of their opening fixture, they succumbed to Arsenal on a 2-0 scoreline with both goals coming in the final 20 minutes. 

Form in general hasn’t been great for Athletic Club – they registered their last win at the end of August in a 2-1 triumph over La Liga opponents Real Betis. Last weekend resulted in a 1-0 defeat to Villarreal courtesy of an Alberto Moleiro strike. 

As for Dortmund, they were pegged back late in Turin with two late goals from Juventus denying them victory and instead forced to settle for a 4-4 stalemate.

However, Niko Kovac’s side have looked rock solid defensively since with two consecutive wins and clean sheets kept against VfL Wolfsburg (1-0) and Mainz (2-0) last Saturday. 

The Westfalenstadion tends to be a happy hunting ground for BVB, and they will hope to keep it that way against Bilbao. With four goals scored and none conceded, it wouldn’t be surprising if this game tight but hotly contested. 

Team news and predicted lineups:

Borussia Dortmund will be without Emre Can (adductor), Julien Duranville (shoulder dislocation) and Aaron Anselmino (muscular problems) for Wednesday. 

The hope will be that top-scorer Serhou Guirassy, who was a late injury scare against Mainz and thus rested as a precaution, will be fit to start or feature off the bench. 

As for Athletic Club, their main concern is whether Nico Williams will be fit to start. The club’s director of football Mikel Gonzalez was quoted as saying “hopefully we see him soon”. 

Two names who will definitely not travel is Benat Prados and Unai Egiluz – both of whom are recovering from cruciate ligament tears.  

Click here to see our predicted Borussia Dortmund vs. Athletic Club lineups.