Preview:Borussia Dortmund vs Union Berlin - prediction, team news, lineups

Borussia Dortmund will be looking to claim their first Bundesliga win of 2025-26 when they welcome Union Berlin to Signal Iduna Park on Sunday.

The hosts were held to a 3-3 stalemate by St Pauli in their opening top-flight fixture on August 23 and are ninth in the table, whereas the visitors are seventh with three points following their 2-1 victory against Stuttgart last Saturday.

Match preview

Dortmund boss Niko Kovac will be immensely disappointed by the fact his side surrendered a 3-1 lead against St Pauli in a three-minute spell following their opponents' second goal in the 86th minute.

BVB's failure to beat St Pauli was the first time in 11 years that they did not win their opening Bundesliga match of a campaign, and they last failed to win their opening two fixtures of a league season in 2007-08.

The hosts' record in front of goal has been outstanding considering they have netted at least three times in each of their past six top-flight matches.

Black and Yellow have faced Union 12 times in the Bundesliga, and there has yet to be a draw between the sides, with Borussia winning eight to Union's four.

Kovac did oversee a 1-0 victory in the DFB-Pokal against Rot-Weiss Essen on August 18, and they are now unbeaten in 10 domestic outings, winning on eight occasions.

BVB's clash on the weekend will be their first of the season at Signal Iduna Park, and a win would be their sixth consecutive triumph at the stadium.

Union scored both of their shots on target against Stuttgart, netting twice from an xG tally of 0.34 while also failing to create a single big chance.

The visitors were productive in the final third in the closing stages of 2024-25, finding the back of the net on nine occasions in their final five fixtures of that season.

Boss Steffen Baumgart guided his side to a 5-0 victory in the first round of the DFB-Pokal on August 15 against FC Gutersloh, and it should be noted that his team only won two of their first five games last term.

Union have only been beaten in one of their eight most recent competitive outings, but they were held to four stalemates in that time.

Avoiding defeat on Sunday would be the Berliners' sixth away match without losing in the league, and it would tie the club record they set in 2022.

Borussia Dortmund Bundesliga form:

Borussia Dortmund form (all competitions):

Union Berlin Bundesliga form:

Union Berlin form (all competitions):

Team News

Kovac is facing a crisis in the backline as Filippo Mane's red card last time out means he joins Emre Can, Nico Schlotterbeck and Niklas Sule on the sidelines.

The BVB boss may have no option but to station full-back Julian Ryerson in his three-man defence, and he will hope that midfielders Marcel Sabitzer and Pascal Gross can protect what could be a vulnerable trio.

Jobe Bellingham is certain to be involved, and he may be asked to support forwards Serhou Guirassy and Karim Adeyemi.

Union defender Andrik Markgraf is not scheduled to return until the middle of next month, and his absence could lead to starts for Danilho Doekhi, Leopold Querfeld and Tom Rothe.

Midfielder Lucas Tousart is a doubt but is expected to be fit in the coming days, but if he is unavailable, Andras Schafer, Rani Khedira and Janik Haberer will likely be chosen in the middle of the pitch.

Andrej Ilic and lyas Ansah could feature in the frontline, especially as Livan Burcu has been ruled out due to an ankle issue.

Borussia Dortmund possible starting lineup:

Kobel; Ryerson, Anton, Bensebaini; Couto, Gross, Sabitzer, Svensson; Bellingham; Guirassy, Adeyemi

Union Berlin possible starting lineup:

Ronnow; Doekhi, Querfeld, Rothe; Trimmel, Schafer, Khedira, Haberer, Skov; Ilic, Ansah

We say: Borussia Dortmund 2-1 Union Berlin

Union were arguably fortunate to score twice against Stuttgart, but they will be facing a weakened Dortmund defence.

BVB's goalscoring record under Kovac in recent Bundesliga matches has been excellent, and perhaps they can rely on their forwards to carry them to victory.

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