Sportfreunde Lotte vs Borussia Dortmund Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

Sportfreunde Lotte have had a blazing season since being promoted from the Regionalliga West (German 4th tier) last season. Lotte stand 7th in the German 3rd tier (3. Liga) and are enjoying their best ever DFB Pokal run after their 2-0 win at home to 1860 Munich in the round of 16. Hosting Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund in the quarter finals was no doubt a dream draw, arguably representing the biggest fixture in the club’s history, but expectations to progress any further in the competition won’t be too high.

Borussia Dortmund are huge favourites at 1/5 with bet365 and we feel backing the visitors “-2.0 Asian Handicap” at 7/8 is the best option here for the following reasons: credit must be given to Sportfreunde Lotte for knocking out two Bundesliga sides at home (Werder Bremen and Bayer Leverkusen) to get to this point in the competition. However, Borussia Dortmund present a much different challenge than those before them. Unlike Bremen and Leverkusen, who are both performing way below expectation in the Bundesliga, Dortmund have lost just one of their last 10 matches domestically (W4 D5 L1) and head into this off the back of two consecutive 3-0 wins away to Freiburg, who hold one of the better home forms in the Bundesliga, and at home to Wolfsburg. Notably, Lotte’s home form has also slipped since the earlier rounds – Sportfreunde have lost four of their last five league matches at home (W1 L4).

Given the DFB Pokal also represents the BVB’s only realistic chance at silverware this season, Dortmund are very likely to start a full strength team, something they’ve stuck to already in prior rounds. Dortmund are obviously the much better side on paper and the form of dynamic duo Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang – the Bundesliga’s joint top scorer (19 goals in 20 appearances) – and Marco Reus, should prove particularly troublesome. All of Aubameyang’s last five goals in the DFB Pokal have been in matches on the road, so expect him to play a vital role this Tuesday.

Regarding a correct score bet, with Dortmund much improved defensively – three clean sheets from their last four Bundesliga matches- it’s hard to see Sportfreunde Lotte getting much out of this. We expect Lotte to be happy enough to simply brush shoulders with some of the best players in Germany and, as such, we feel Dortmund have a perfect opportunity to run riot here. Hence, we find a 5-0 Dortmund win at 16/1 to be worth the long shot.