Los geht es mit der Champions League
Endlich wieder erfolgreicher Fußball aus Deutschland nach dem WM Desaster? Schon wir mal - heute steigen Schalke und Erzfeind Borussia Dortmund in die CL ein. Für Schalke wird es schwer, Borussia sollte Brügge denke ich schlagen können auswärts. Was meint Ihr? Hopp Borussia!
Dortmund and Schalke entering group phase tonight
So today we all are prepared for the Champions League group phase to get started. Two German clubs are playing tonight - Schalke 04 faces FC Porto while local competitor Borussia Dortmund starts in Belgium against Club Brugge.
Borussia will be watched by all Germany since they failed to win a single game in the competition last season so they will be hopefully highly motivated enough to start this season’s campaign with a victory. Last year they crashed in CL and then also experienced a disaster especially hard for a German club - in the last-16 Europa League they did exit to Red Bull Salzburg where our Steemian 
Club Brugge should normally be doable but the German team can not afford to take any team lightly in Europe’s premier club competition especially when they do not play at home.
Line-Up and Match facts
The potential team line-up of my Bundesliga love and Brugge below - it will be a tough one for Borussia given Guerreiro, Toprak, Alcacer, Delaney are unable to play. Mario Götze seems to be out of the system again and young Alexander Isak was told by the UEFA that he is not allowed to play Champions League (different story).
Brugge
Letica - Poulain, Mitrovic, Denswil - Bonaventure, Vormer (c), Vanaken, Rits, Groeneveld - Wesley, Rezaei
Coach: Ivan Leko
Dortmund
Bürki - Piszczek, Diallo, Akanji, Schmelzer - Dahoud, Witsel - Pulisic, Reus (c), Sancho - Philipp
Coach: Lucien Favre
Preview
It seems that Dortmund relies on some key midfielders such as the US guy Pulisic. He celebrates his 20th birthday today and became a key player in Dortmund having produced 12 goals and 20 assists in 99 competitive Dortmund games.
With Witsel Dortmund has an experienced mentally strong player who could make the difference against a club from his home country. Witsel made six appearances as Belgium finished third at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Borussia Dortmund had difficult times in European competitions recently so they won only one of the last 12 competitive European fixtures. Brugge on the other hand only won one of their last nine fixtures against German clubs. This last win was interestingly against Dortmund where they did beat them 2-1 in Brugge during the 2003/04 Champions League third qualifying round.
Prediction or betting?
Not a betting guy usually and also am bad in prediction results but giving it a try! Let us analyse the facts again: Brugge has not won any of their last 10 CL matches, even being reigning champion in Belgium and heading the current league Dortmund should have enough quality to win that. Dortmund has to win especially in view of the upcoming matches against the top teams in the group Atletico Madrid and Monaco. A first win would be good for their self confidence. My predicted score is: Club Brugge 0-3 Borussia Dortmund
This article has been posted on Scorum by myself already - a sports media niche site built on the Steem technology - Scorum is also a sponsor of Steemfest and has a speaking slot there