European Football Best Bets - August 23 & 24

Borussia Dortmund return to competitive football for the first time this season, with a clash against old rivals Bayern Munich the perfect way to try to hit the ground running. Dortmund put a pair of friendly defeats to Dusseldorf and Cerezo Osaka behind them as they beat FC Tokyo and Arsenal before drawing 2-2 with Roma. Across last season, Dortmund were consigned to a pair of defeats by a one-goal margin when playing Bayern. Prior to this, they had drawn both matches, with the pair clearly difficult to split. With four of Dortmund's last five in pre-season ending with the winning margin standing at one goal, I am backing the same this weekend. 

PSG have endured a very inconsistent pre-season in which they have only won one of their four matches. A defeat to Mallorca (3-0) has come alongside a shock 1-0 loss to Lens in the cup. They were also held 1-1 by Manchester United. Interestingly, they managed to really turn up in their most high-profile game prior to the new season as they beat Aston Villa 2-1 in the Super Cup. Many of PSG's players were involved in the latter-stages of the World Cup, meaning squad rotation was a must. With the new season here, I predict that the Ligue 1 champions will open the season with a win, although I do not back them to keep a clean sheet against a side they have conceded against in three of their last four meetings.