Bundesliga 2013-14 | ||
VfL Wolfsburg |
vs | Borussia Mönchengladbach |
ScheduleSaturday, 10 May 2014 at 13:30 GMT / 14:30 UK / 19:00 IST VenueVolkswagen Arena (Wolfsburg) |
Next Saturday, Wolfsburg will take on Borussia M’gladbach at the Volkswagen Arena for round 36, the last one of the 2013-14 season, on a match of major importance for the home side that keep their hopes of granting a place at UEFA Champions League next season very much alive.
After last Saturday’s last minute win against Stuttgart, thanks to a goal from the experienced Croatian forward Ivica Olic, Die Wölfe managed to nurture their dreams of reaching the 4th place, thus granting a place at the Champions League season. For that to happen, Wolfsburg will need to defeat Borussia M’gladbach next Saturday and hope for Bayer Leverkusen to stumble at home against Werder Bremen. Although it is not likely that the inconsistent Werder Bremen manage to upset Bayer Leverkusen, Wolfsburg still believes that a “miracle” can happen at BayArena next weekend.
With three wins during the last four matches, the team from the Lower Saxony are enjoying a very good end of season at the Bundesliga and they will certainly want to end the present campaign in style in front of their supporters by beating Borussia M’gladbach, who are just two points behind them at the 6th place of the table.
For next Saturday’s match, Wolfsburg manager, Dieter Hecking will not be able to count on the Belgian midfielder Junior Malanda and on the Dutch forward Bas Dost, who remain sidelined due to injury.
As for Borussia M’gladbach, next Saturday’s match can offer the opportunity of climbing one place on the table, if they manage to defeat Wolfsburg, who are just two points ahead of them at the 5th place. After defeating Mainz last weekend, Die Fohlen secured the 6th place of table and maintained the hopes of reaching Wolfsburg very much alive. During the match there was a tribute in honour of Gladbach’s goalkeeper Andre ter Stegen for his long career at the club (a celebration that brought him to tears in front of a packed stadium), the home side dominated the match and build a conclusive 3-1 over a Mainz that were hoping to cause a major upset at the Borussia-Park.
For the match against Wolfsburg, Gladbach’s manager Lucien Favre will not be able to count on the Finnish defender Joel Mero, who is still recovering from his respective injury.
When both sides met at Borussia-Park back in December, the match ended in a 2-2 exciting draw with goals from Raffael and Juan Arango for the home side and from Diego and Bas Dost for the visitors. Next Saturday’s clash will certainly also be very close one; nevertheless, because of playing in front of their fans, Die Wölfe enjoy from some slight favouritism.
Wolfsburg
Stats: W-17 L-10 D-6
Recent Form - LWWDW
Borussia M’gladbach
Stats: W-16 L-10 D-7
Recent Form - WDLWW
Possible Line-ups
Wolfsburg (4-2-3-1) - Benaglio - Träsch - Naldo - Knoche - Rodriguez - Gustavo - Polak - Perisic - De Bruyne - Arnold - Olic
Borussia M’gladbach (4-4-2) - Ter Stegen - Jantschke - Stranzl - Dominguez - Korb - Nordtveit - Kramer - Herrmann - Arango - Raffael - Kruse
Prediction
Wolfsburg 2 Borussia M’gladbach 1
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