Pre-Match Report
The facts on the match away to Dinamo Zagreb
The scenario: Dinamo Zagreb suffered a 9-2 defeat at FC Bayern in their opening game of the league phase but sit in 16th – one place ahead of the Bavarians – in the table after four of the eight matchdays. Their last eight home games at European level have produced five wins, two draws and one defeat. Dortmund are in seventh position, level on points with sixth-placed Barcelona and Aston Villa in eighth. The top eight teams will qualify directly for the round of 16, while the clubs in places nine to 24 will play an additional knockout round.
Dinamo facts: The 9-2 loss in Munich (the biggest European defeat in the history of the club, which was founded in 1911; picture below) has been followed by a 2-2 draw with Monaco and away wins in Salzburg (2-0) and Bratislava (4-1). Seven points puts them in 16th position. The team of coach Nenad Bjelica, who coached Union Berlin from November 2023 to May 2024 and played for 1. FC Kaiserslautern from 2001 to 2004, currently occupy third place in their domestic league. Their home record in the league in the 2024/25 season reads four wins, one draw and two defeats. Dinamo Zagreb claimed the Yugoslav championship four times between 1948 and 1982,f and have won the Croatian title 25 times since 1993. Their biggest international success was winning the Fairs Cup (predecessor of the UEFA Cup) in 1967.
Borussia facts: The Black & Yellows won in Newcastle (1-0), Milan (3-1) and Paris (1-0) last season and also triumphed 3-0 in Bruges in their opening game of the current campaign, which means they have an almost equal record over the course of their last 29 Champions League away matches (12 wins, four draws and 14 defeats).
Head-to-head record: It will be the first meeting between Borussia Dortmund and Dinamo Zagreb. BVB have only faced teams from the former Yugoslavia on two occasions to date: Velez Mostar in 1987 (2-0 at home, 1-2 away) and Branik Maribor in 1993 (2-1 at home and 0-0 away, picture featuring Knut Reinhardt below). Following their 1-1 draw in Stuttgart in the 1988/89 UEFA Cup second round return leg, Dinamo suffered seven defeats in a row against Bundesliga clubs. A 2-2 home draw against Magdeburg in the second round of the 1976/77 UEFA Cup was the second and only other of their 13 matches against German opponents that did not end in defeat.
Champions League: Zagreb are in the UEFA Champions League for the 10th time but never progressed beyond the group phase in the old format. BVB are involved in this competition for the ninth time in succession and the 19th time overall (only 09 clubs have been involved more frequently), have reached the knockout stages in nine of their last 11 campaigns and have contested the final three times (winner in 1997, runner-up in 2013 and 2024).
Compiled by Boris Rupert