BVB's Injury Crisis Meets AEK Athens' Champions League Hunger

Borussia Dortmund's Champions League campaign is barely off the ground and the injury room is already full. Niko Kovac has a serious problem at the back heading into Tuesday's home opener at Signal Iduna Park. Bensebaini is suspended after picking up a red card, Schlotterbeck is also out with a red card ban, and Filippo Mane pulled up with a right thigh muscle injury in the away Bundesliga game at Hoffenheim just days ago, threatening to be a longer-term absence. Emre Can is out with a knee injury, Konstantelias has a knee problem of his own, and Lerma is dealing with a muscle issue. That is a long list. For fantasy football managers banking on Dortmund's defensive solidity, this is genuinely alarming — and it fundamentally reshapes how you pick from this fixture. Schlotterbeck carries a SAM rating of 8.8/10 and averages 6.9 points per game, making his absence one of the most painful omissions in any fantasy football context this matchday.

Here's the thing about AEK Athens: don't sleep on them. The Greek champions earned their place in the 2026/27 Champions League the hard way, coming through the play-off round after a nervy goalless draw in Sofia against Levski before turning on the style 4-0 in the return leg. Manager Marko Nikolić has built a squad with genuine European pedigree, and their real-world Champions League stats this season are eye-opening. Barnabas Varga leads the line with two goals in two appearances, posting a match rating of 8.0. Midfielder Mátyás Vitális has racked up six key passes in three appearances with a rating of 7.7, while Lovro Majer — signed from Wolfsburg in what turned out to be an inspired piece of business — is contributing at 7.5 with four key passes and one assist. Goalkeeper Thomas Strakosha is at 7.4, meaning the back end is solid too. Radu Marin has chipped in with a goal, and left back Lazaros Rota is getting forward effectively with an assist and four key passes. This is not a team coming here to park the bus and hope for a clean sheet — they want to play.

Dortmund are not without quality either, let's be honest. Felix Nmecha leads the BVB SAM ratings at 9.3/10, though Serhou Guirassy up front is the man every fantasy football player should still have circled at 8.7/10. Julian Ryerson, rated 9.0/10 with 6.4 points per game, brings energy from midfield, while Donyell Malen's absence means the onus falls heavily on Moritz Beier, who is available and rated 8.4/10. Teenager Ethan Nwaneri, loaned in from Arsenal, made his Dortmund debut against Hoffenheim after Mane's injury and adds a wildcard option in wide areas. On the defensive front, Kovac deployed Daniel Svensson at left centre-back against Hamburg to cover absences, and 19-year-old French signing Joane Gadou — who started in the Bundesliga 2-0 win — is expected to feature again. Svensson's real-world rating of 6.6 with an assist already this season in the Champions League shows he can contribute at both ends. It's a makeshift backline for a Bundesliga runners-up side that should be challenging for top-eight European qualification.

On paper, this looks like a straightforward Dortmund win. They are at home, they have the squad depth in attack, and Signal Iduna Park under the lights is a different beast entirely. But AEK have momentum, clear tactical identity, and B. Varga is exactly the kind of forward who punishes hesitant defending — and hesitant defending is precisely what Dortmund's patched-up back three could offer. In the broader champions league picture, Dortmund's schedule gets considerably tougher from here, with Arsenal and Inter Milan still to come, so dropping points here would be a real statement of intent from the Greeks. For the clean sheet, Strakosha at 7.4 this season gives you more confidence than BVB's reshuffled defensive unit. Dortmund will win this one, but not without a scare. Expect goals at both ends, with BVB edging it 2-1.