{"id":1764,"date":"2025-11-05T14:47:28","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T06:47:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/?p=1764"},"modified":"2025-11-05T14:47:28","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T06:47:28","slug":"manchester-city-have-become-more-beatable-says-dortmunds-gross","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/05\/manchester-city-have-become-more-beatable-says-dortmunds-gross\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchester City have become ‘more beatable’, says Dortmund’s Gross"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Borussia Dortmund midfielder Pascal Gross said Wednesday’s Champions League opponents Manchester City are “more beatable” now than during his time in England.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gross<\/a>, speaking on Tuesday in Manchester, spent seven years at Brighton<\/strong> before moving to Dortmund <\/strong>in 2024. During the German international’s time in the Premier League, City <\/strong>lifted the English title on all but one occasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Right now, speaking off the cuff, I’d say they’re more beatable than they were a few years ago<\/strong>,” the 34-year-old told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

City <\/strong>finished third <\/strong>in England last season, 13 points behind champions Liverpool<\/strong>, and are already six points behind league leaders Arsenal <\/strong>this campaign, with 10 games played.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I do think they’re undergoing a certain transition<\/strong>. Many established players who were instrumental to City’s success for several years have left the club,” Gross <\/strong>said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“But they still have absolute world-class players<\/strong> in their ranks – they’re perhaps in a phase of reinvention.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gross <\/strong>singled out City striker Erling Haaland<\/strong> for special praise<\/strong>. Haaland<\/strong>, who spent two-and-a-half years at Dortmund <\/strong>before moving to City<\/strong> in 2022, is in a rich vein of form, having scored 26 goals<\/strong> in 16 games for club and country so far this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Gross <\/strong>rejected suggestions City were too reliant<\/strong> on the Norwegian striker. “He is, of course, an absolute world-class player<\/strong> who is currently putting up incredible numbers,” he said. “But you have to stop him collectively<\/strong>. We have to stop him together, but City has enormous quality <\/strong>in every position.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Dortmund<\/a> and City <\/strong>have won two and drawn one of their three opening Champions League fixtures. Dortmund coach Niko Kovac<\/strong> said his side would “stay true to our game<\/strong>” despite the dangerous Haaland<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Erling Haaland<\/strong>, we have to watch out for him,” the Croatian added. “But if we only barricade ourselves at the back tomorrow, it will also be difficult<\/strong>, because this City team also has the qualities to break down teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We want to try to break free <\/strong>and also keep the game away from our goal. So, we’ll stay true to our game.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Borussia Dortmund midfielder Pascal Gross said Wednesda […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1765,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1764","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1764","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1764"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1764\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1766,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1764\/revisions\/1766"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1764"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1764"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dxtynews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1764"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}