Thiago Silva, Tuesday’s match might feel like deja vu, as the 40-year-old’s new club, Fluminense, takes on a European squad for the first time since he made the transfer back to his native Brazil in the summer of 2024. Through his stints at AC Milan, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea, Silva has twice faced Borussia Dortmund, both in the Champions League Round of 16.
It’ll be an unfamiliar venue for Silva, though, as Group F of the inaugural 32-team Club World Cup kicks off its action with a noon clash at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey. Both Dortmund and Fluminense are heavily favored to advance out of the group, which also includes South Africa’s Mamelodi Sundowns and the Korean side Ulsan HD FC.
In the heavyweight clash, the German side is a -200 favorite to win at DraftKings Sportsbook, with Fluminense at +500 and a draw at +360.
The DraftKings Network will be closely covering the tournament, so stay tuned for more coverage.
Borussia Dortmund vs. Fluminense prediction, pick
Nearing the end of the the Bundesliga season, Dortmund looked dead in the water, sitting 11th in the German top flight, about to be eliminated from the Champions League, and well below the qualification places for the 2025-26 competition. But BVB made a remarkable comeback, claiming 22 points from their final eight matches to finish fourth in the Bundesliga and secure qualification for next season’s Champions League. They also bolstered their squad by signing Jobe Bellingham — the younger brother of former Dortmund and current Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham — who was critical in Sunderland’s push back to the Premier League.
The star power on BVB is immense. Serhou Guirassy proved that his breakout 2023-24 season was no fluke, hammering home 34 goals across 42 starts in all competitions and became the highest-scoring African player in a single edition of the Champions League, tying for that competition’s Golden Boot with 13 goals. Goalkeeper Gregor Kobel tied for 10th in the Bundesliga in saves, and Jamie Gittens ranked second in the top flight in successful take-ons. Julian Brandt and Pascal Groß were one of the most prolific midfield duos in all of Germany, and after failing to reach a deal with Chelsea, Gittens will unexpectedly be part of the Club World Cup squad.
Fluminense, meanwhile, has been a disappointment, finishing 13th in the Série A in 2024 and sitting just sixth in the table through the season’s first 11 matches. In particular, their attack was terrible last season, as they netted only 33 goals in 38 matches — the third-lowest scoring total in the division — and lost second top scorer Kauā Elias, a 17-year-old wunderkind, to Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk after the season and failing to bring in any attacker valued over six million Euros to replace him. Kevin Serna has been solid as part of an all-Colombian wing partnership with incumbent star Jhon Arias, and Fluminense has scored the fourth-most goals in Série A so far while posting a league-average defense.
Still, I’m not sure if Serna — a player who scored just three goals in Série A last season and never scored more than nine across three seasons in the Peruvian league — has the quality to keep up with a squad of Dortmund’s caliber, especially not one that outscored its opponents, 10-4, over the final four weeks of the Bundesliga season. Plus, while Silva has been solid in his return to Brazil, especially as an attacking-oriented defender, I doubt that he has the fitness to hang with Karim Adeyemi, one of the fastest players in Europe, or the leaping ability to contend with Guirassy, one of the most clinical heading finishers in the world.
