The Italian club Juventus is preparing for a fiery clash against the German club Borussia Dortmund, in the opening of their group stage campaign for the 2025/2026 UEFA Champions League, repeating the final of the tournament in 1997.

This match marks the first official encounter between the two teams since the 2014/2015 season, when Juventus won 2-1 in the first leg and 3-0 in the second leg.

Juventus has achieved 6 victories out of 9 encounters against Dortmund, while Dortmund won the Champions League title against Juventus in the 1997 final with a score of 3-1 in Munich.

Juventus has only lost twice in their last 12 matches against Bundesliga teams, with the last defeat coming against Stuttgart last season 1-0, ending a streak of 5 consecutive victories.

Dortmund has won only once in their last 7 away matches against Italian teams, drawing once and losing 5, and overall the German team has lost 13 times in their visits to Italy compared to only 5 victories.

In their last 11 encounters against Serie A clubs, Dortmund has won only 3 matches, drawing in 3 and losing 5.

Juventus is participating in the current edition of the tournament for the 25th time in its history, a record number for Italian clubs.

In the previous edition, the team finished in 20th place in the group stage, winning 3 matches, drawing 3, and losing 2, and exited the tournament in the playoff round against PSV Eindhoven.

Juventus has never lost a home match in the first round throughout its history in the Champions League, winning 6 matches and drawing 3.

Borussia Dortmund is marking its tenth consecutive participation in the Champions League group stage, as in the last season, they advanced from the group stage, then eliminated Sporting Lisbon and Lille, before exiting the tournament in the quarter-finals against Barcelona with a total score of 5-3, and Dortmund has succeeded in winning 3 of the last 4 opening matches in the European tournament.

Juventus has won only 5 of their last 18 matches in the Champions League, losing 9 matches, and Jonathan David, the current Juventus striker, has scored 7 goals in his last 9 European matches, making him the all-time top scorer for Canada in the tournament with 10 goals in 18 matches.

Borussia Dortmund has lost only one of their last 7 matches in the Champions League, winning 4 matches and drawing 2, and Serhou Guirassy managed to score 9 goals in the league stage last season, finishing the tournament with 13 goals, sharing the top scorer title with Raphinha from Barcelona.