Hoffenheim travel to take on the champions

Sunday sees Wolfsburg coach Lorenz-Günther Köstner go head to head with his former employers for the first time since leading 1899 to fourth place in the Regionalliga Süd in 2005/06. Shortly afterwards, current boss Ralf Rangnick took over at the helm as Hoffenheim stormed into the Bundesliga.

A healthy mix

The Hoffenheim supremo was at Wolfsburg's 2-1 defeat at Fulham in the Europa League on Thursday and picked up on a few weaknesses in VfL's performance: "That match showed that you can you can ruffle their feathers with a strong, passionate performance. That's the mix we need to find," said Rangnick. Wolfsburg will undoubtedly be going for the win on home turf, with Rangnick going on to point out that they cannot afford to rely on Europa League glory to secure their ticket into Europe for next season.
For Hoffenheim, it's all about redemption in their final six games of the season: "You can see in training that the lads want to put things right in these final six games. We need to transfer that kind of attitude into the match on Sunday now," continued the 1899 supremo.

Simunic out of action

Rangnick will be without a number of key personnel for the match, including central defender Josip Simunic (suspended) and goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand (back). "I think we can safely assume that Timo won't be playing, but hopefully he shouldn't be out for too long," said the Hoffenheim boss. Tobias Weis is still a doubt as the 24-year-old struggles with flu, although he is well on the road to recovery. It remains to be seen whether there will be further changes in the 1899 starting line up, with Chinedu Obasi nearing a return in attack but unlikely to be risked on Sunday. "I think he could probably manage 30 to 45 minutes," said Rangnick. Isaac Vorsah, Matthias Jaissle and Demba will also miss the tie at the Volkswagen Arena.

Wolfsburg still on for the semis

Hoffenheim can go into the match against the ninth-placed Wolves with little to lose, while Köstner's home side will have one mind on next Thursday's Europa League quarter-final second leg tie with Fulham. A late Alexander Madlung strike at Craven Cottage kept the German outfit in with a chance of reaching the semis, so the men in green will be praying they sustain no injuries in Sunday's clash with 1899. "We didn't put enough pressure on or pose enough of a threat on goal in the first half. At the start of the second half we started to get forward and we should have taken the lead, but instead we went two goals behind. Still the lads defended well and got back into the match. The way goal was enormously important," said Köstner on the first leg in the English capital.

History on their side

Wolfsburg have the upper hand in terms of the history of this weekend's fixture, having won the corresponding fixture 4-0 last season, before going down 3-2 to Hoffenheim at the Carl-Benz-Arena. This season, the Wolves ran out 2-1 winners at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena. Back in November.