Dortmund v Shakhtar: Home edge to ensure narrow German win

As 8/13 hopes, Borussia Dortmund look a good call to see off Shakhtar Donetsk inside 90 minutes at Westfalenstadion.

In the toughest of all Champions League groups this season, Dortmund achieved a 100 per cent success rate, beating Real Madrid, Ajax and Manchester City along the way.

And whilst Shakhtar backers will take heart from the 4/1 Ukrainian side winning consecutive games on German soil, the hosts should do enough to advance with a win.

Jurgen Klopp’s men have an advantage carrying two away goals into this tie, meaning a goalless draw would be enough to see them home via a 2-2 aggregate scoreline.

But rather than take the 12/1 on 0-0, a home win in which both teams score looks a far more appealing call at 2/1, given Dortmund registering in all of their European outings so far this term, and Shakhtar doing so in all but one.

The pairing notched 23 goals between them in the group stage too, whilst the 12 matches featuring the two sides saw the net bulge 36 times.

As such, betting on the volume of goals to emanate from this clash looks a feasible profit-making method too, and Klopp’s charges seem a good call to win a game involving at least 2.5 goals at 6/5.

Half markets also appear well worth studying, with a glaring trend emanating from slow-starting Dortmund’s European matches this term.

The Germans went into half-time in four of their six group games level before going on to win, whilst all three of their Westfalenstadion games followed this tradition.

At 7/2, Dortmund to triumph in a match they are drawing at half-time seems the standout bet in this match.

And punters should look no further than Robert Lewandowski when placing a first scorer bet on this clash.

A brace at the weekend means Lewandowski has now hit nine goals in his last nine appearances, and he can add to his four seasonal Champions League strikes with the opener at 7/2 here.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing.