VfL Wolfsburg travel to RB Leipzig on Saturday (kick-off 15:30 CEST) in a contest pitting together two teams with contrasting aims. While the Wolves are determined to earn some breathing space in the relegation battle, Leipzig are chasing three more points to fuel their ambitions of qualifying for the UEFA Champions League.
Facts and figures about this fixture
- Wind leads the way: Jonas Wind (2,479 minutes) and Joakim Maehle (2,432) have featured more for VfL this term than anyone else, with the Danish duo each playing over 40 hours of football across all competitions in 2023/24. Furthermore, Wind is the only player to have been in the squad for, and to have played in, all 31 competitive games this season.
- Contrasting form: Leipzig have collected 13 of a possible 15 points from their five most recent Bundesliga assignments, keeping them on course for Champions League qualification. The Wolves have only taken three points across the same period, having beaten Werder Bremen away on Ralph Hasenhüttl's debut in the dugout.
- Record holder: Hasenhüttl was Leipzig's first coach in the top flight, and was at the helm from 2016 to 2018. His team finished with 67 points in the 2016/17 campaign, a tally that remains the club's best Bundesliga haul to date.
- Familiar faces: In Peter Gulacsi, Willi Orban, Lukas Klostermann, Kevin Kampl and Yussuf Poulsen, there are five players still in the Leipzig squad from Hasenhüttl's time at the club.
- Travel sick: VfL's away record in Leipzig makes for some uncomfortable reading, with two wins and seven defeats from 11 games. The Green-and-Whites' last victory there was on 11 March 2017 when Mario Gomez – now a technical director in the Red Bull stable – scored the only goal of the game.
- Good things come in threes: This will be the teams' third meeting this season. The Wolves earned a 1-0 home victory in the second round of the DFB Cup on 31 October 2023, and followed that up with a 2-1 success in the Bundesliga on 25 November.
