Spurs Edge Dortmund's Young Guns in Champions Opener

The phrase gets so old, but ever since it was coined at the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, every international competition has to have one.

A Group of Death.

The inference is one team is better than two others in each pool, but it's gonna finish third and go home earlier than it should.

In this season's Champions League pool play, it's this one:

Defending champion Real Madrid is a safe assumption to go through to the brackets.

APOEL Nicosea is just happy to be there.

So, the odd club out when the elimination round begins will come down to either Tottenham Hotspur or BVB Dortmund.

The scouting report on Spurs hasn't changed in recent times:

• Understand they're gonna have a possession advantage,
• Keep close to Harry Kane, and
• Wait for a chance to counter.

Dortmund, on the other hand, has become a work in progress that offers pleasant surprises on a regular basis.

Simply put, they're going with youth and doing a damn good job of leaving no stone unturned.

It's early days in the Bundesliga, but they're off to an impressive start:

The Champions League, of course, will be a higher caliber challenge.

And, as alluded, their pool results against Spurs will be a battle for survival in the competition.

Der BVB performed admirably in their first head-to-head, but they drifted too far from the scouting report, ie- dudes left Kane with 'way too much space, and it cost them in a 2-1 decision:

That's also the first salvo of slings and arrows hitting their black-&-yellow mark.

The rematch is Tue 21 Nov.

Yes. Yes it will.