VfL Wolfsburg’s home game against Bayer 04 Leverkusen on Sunday 20 March (kick-off 17:30 CET) is set to be a special one for head coach Florian Kohfeldt, who led the Wolves to victory against the ‘Werkself’ in his first match in charge of the club earlier this season.
More facts and figures
Top-flight stalwarts: Leverkusen have been in the Bundesliga since 1979, while VfL have been a top-flight side since 1997. Only Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund have been in the Bundesliga for a longer stretch without being relegated.
No home comforts: The home side has failed to come away with all three points in the last 11 Bundesliga meetings between these two teams, with three draws and eight away wins in that period. VfL are unbeaten in their last four encounters with Bayer, but you have to go all the way back to 2015 for their last home victory over Leverkusen.
Multi-talented: Statistically speaking, Moussa Diaby is one of the most versatile players in Germany’s top flight. The Leverkusen winger is the only Bundesliga player to feature in the top ten of three categories in the DFL’s new ‘match facts’: Sprinter, Finisher and Initiator.
Influential Kruse: Both Wolfsburg and former employers Union Berlin have a much better record with Max Kruse than without him. The forward is set to make his 50th competitive appearance for VfL, who coincidentally face Leverkusen for the 50th time in the league this weekend.
Mbabu vs. Seoane: VfL right-back Kevin Mbabu worked with current Leverkusen head coach Gerardo Seoane while at Young Boys, who sold the Switzerland international to the Wolves in 2019.
Key absentees: Leverkusen will be without Florian Wirtz (torn cruciate ligament) and Jeremie Frimpong (torn syndesmosis ligament) for several months. Patrik Schick, who has 20 league goals this season, is also unavailable this weekend with a muscle strain.
