AC Milan face one of the Bundesliga’s early season title contenders on Wednesday night in the Champions League as they battle Borussia Dortmund.
Milan have published a scouting report on Dortmund on their official website, writing that they tend to make the most of their players’ dribbling and passing qualities and try to get to the danger areas of the pitch quickly.
Dortmund have averaged 60% possession so far in the Bundesliga, less than only Bayern Munich (62%), and have the fourth-best pass completion percentage in the opponent’s half (77.3%) after Bayer Leverkusen (84.9%), Bayern Munich (83.9%) and Stuttgart (80.1%).
At the same time, Edin Terzic’s side tend to expose themselves, especially in central areas. Only Freiburg (15) have conceded more direct attacks than Dortmund (14) among teams in the German top division.
Milan are leaders in the number of vertical attacks (i.e. the number of sequences that start in their own area, have at least 50% forward movement and end with a shot or a touch in the opponent’s area) with 20, at least two more than any other Serie A team.
The Rossoneri are joint-top in Serie A for most shots following a counter-attack with 5, together with Juventus and Inter. That means it could end up being an end-to-end basketball match with counter-attack after counter-attack.
The threats
Marco Reus is having a great season so far. The club captain and third-highest goalscorer in Dortmund’s history in all competitions with 117 goals has scored three times this season and has found the net in his last two matches, both in the Bundesliga (against Wolfsburg and Hoffenheim).
Moreover, the forward has already scored against two Italian teams in the Champions League: Juventus (in 2014-15) and Napoli (in 2013-14).
Then there is Donyell Malen, top scorer for the German team in all competitions this season (4 goals) and looking for his first Champions League goal in 666 days (Borussia Dortmund 5-0 Besiktas on 7 December 2021).
The threats come from the flanks, so doubling up with the full-backs will be crucial to stop the supply to Sebastien Haller and/or Niclas Füllkrug.
