Wolfsburg And Real Madrid Prepare To Face Off In Champions League Quarterfinal First Leg Match

Although German club Wolfsburg comes from a very different background then Real Madrid, it is prepared to show it can compete with the Spanish powerhouse team in Wednesday’s Champions League quarterfinal first leg in Germany.

Wolfsbug And Real Madrid Prepare To Face Off

Ten-time winner Madrid is on a six-game victory run, the last of which is a come-from-behind 2-1 win at Barcelona in Saturday’s “clasico,” while reduced to 10 men. The victory ended Barcelona’s record game-winning streak of 69 games across all competitions.

Wolfsburg fell to Bayer Leverkusen 3-0 on Friday, its third Bundesliga game without a win, leaving the side seven points off the last Champions League qualification place after a poor home season.

The odds do not seem stacked in Wolfsburg’s favor, as the team will be playing in its first-ever European Cup quarterfinal on Wednesday. Real Madrid, on the other hand, will be playing its 33rd.

Madrid, led by head coach Zinedine Zidane, is still third in the Spanish league, seven points behind Barcelona.

A few things to know about Wolfsburg ahead of Wednesday’s game:

WOLFSBURG IS FALLING

Although it has progressed in Europe’s premier competition in the club’s second Champion’s League appearance, Wolfsburg disappointed last season, finishing second in the German League despite winning the German Cup that same season.

Ten losses and eight draws in 28 Bundesliga games suggest Wolfsburg is far from strong and that the team was perhaps too reliant on Kevin De Bruyne, sold last summer to Manchester City. The Belgian playmaker had scored 13 goals and set up 27 more in 52 Bundesliga games for the team.

“The bottom line is that we’re not playing like a Champions League team in the Bundesliga,” said sporting director Klaus Allofs, who expects his side to make amends Wednesday. “It’s the mark of a top team that it can set a marker in quality no matter what the competition.”

“I want that we show against Real Madrid that we can compete at this level,” Allofs added. If Real are a number too big, we have to accept it. But we have to go to our limits; I expect it. And then a lot is possible in football.”

CRISTIANO DOMINATES EUROPEAN LEAGUE

Superstar Cristiano Ronaldo stole the show by scoring the game-winning goal in Saturday’s “clasico” game vs Barcelona with five minutes left to play.

Having dealt the reigning European champion a loss in the Spanish league, Ronaldo is primed to add to his Champions League record tally of 91 goals against Wolfsburg.

The Portugal forward, leading Europe’s top-tier competition with 13 goals already, is four short of matching his own single-season record of 17 in the competition.

KEYLOR NAVAS

Madrid’s success in the competition has also come defensively thanks to Costa Rican goalkeeper Keylor Navas.

Navas has kept eight clean sheets in as many appearances in the Champions League and is only second to Jens Lehmann’s record of 853 consecutive minutes without conceding a goal.

The only three goals allowed by Madrid in this stage of the tournament came when backup goalie Kiko Casilla played in a 4-3 victory at Shakhtar Donetsk in the group phase.

Article by Pablo Mena