The Champions League group stage kicks off this week with 16 matches over Tuesday and Wednesday. We aren’t going to cover them all, instead focusing on four matches that have been viewed as closer than others according to various prognosticators.

At the moment, Manchester City remains the favorite to win the tournament overall, and with a relatively easy group ahead of them, it’s easy to see why they are favored to advance far in the tournament. Therefore, we won’t be covering their matchup against Shakhtar Donetsk this week.

Our first match preview will be the one against the top two clubs from Group F, with Borussia Dortmund welcoming Barcelona to Westfalenstadion on Tuesday night.

We’ll look at how the clubs are faring back home in their home leagues this season, as well as what they did last season. Then we’ll look at the clubs’ respective histories in European competition, and then finish with a brief look at the matchup and who enters the match favored to prevail.

Without further ado, here’s a look at the clubs.

Domestic League Performance

Borussia Dortmund is one of the top clubs in the German Bundesliga, where they have played in all but four seasons since the league was founded in 1964. They have five league championship in the Bundesliga era, the most recent after the 2011-12 season. They also have six runner-up finishes as well, including last season, finishing two points behind Bayern Munich.

Four matches into the current season, they behind RB Leipzig with a 3-0-1 record. The lone blemish thus far was surprising, a 3-1 loss at the hands of Union Berlin. Still, they are expected to finish near the top yet again, and if the league plays out how the current odds suspect, it will be in second place behind Bayern Munich once again.

Barcelona is one of the premier clubs in all of Europe, and Spain’s La Liga 26 times, including the last two seasons. Last season, they clinched the league title with three matches to spare, losing three matches all season on their way to an 11-point win over Atlético Madrid.

This season, they’ve had a bit of a slow start, currently sitting midtable after a surprising loss to Athletic Bilbao in their opening game this season. Nevertheless, the Lionel Messi-led squad is expecting to turn it around and are currently favored to win La Liga this season.

European History

Both clubs were automatic qualifiers for the group stage this year based on their league finishes last season and have long histories in European competition.

Borussia Dortmund boasts two European titles: the 1965-66 Cup Winner’s Cup and the 1996-97 Champions League. Barcelona has won nine European titles: five wins in the Champions League (most recently in 2014-15) and four wins in the Cup Winner’s Cup (now defunct, their last title was in 1996-97).

Last season, both clubs went home earlier than they probably wanted, both losing to an eventual finalist. After winning their group, Borussia Dortmund lost to Tottenham Hotspur in the Round of 16. Barcelona – who finished first ahead of the Spurs in their group – reached the semi-finals, losing to eventual champion Liverpool in shocking fashion, losing leg two 4-0 in England after winning leg one 3-0.

This Matchup

This will be only the second time these clubs have met in European competition. The previous matchup was in the 1997 UEFA Super Cup, which pit the winners of the Champions League and Cup Winner’s Cup (now Europa League) against each other. In that matchup, Barcelona prevailed on aggregate, winning 3-1 over two legs.

According to FiveThirtyEight, this match is pretty close to a toss-up, with the hosts Borussia expected to win 40% of the time, with Barcelona not far behind at 37%. A draw is the third most likely outcome at 23%. Betting markets have it slightly reversed, with Barcelona favored at +235 (compared to Borussia at +310), with the draw at +375. Either way, the matches between these two clubs will loom large in determining who wins Group F and the coveted seed for the Round of 16 draw.

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