“The Leverkusen match is coming at the right time”

Yannick Gerhardt will be cheering on the U17s before the first team faces Bayer Leverkusen.

Der VfL-Wolfsburg-Spieler Yannick Gerhardt läuft mit dem Ball.

There is a big day ahead for VfL Wolfsburg. In the morning, the German league title will be on the line in Bielefeld, with the Green-and-Whites’ B Junior Team playing in the final for the first ever time (kick-off: 11:00 CEST). The only member of the current first-team squad to have lifted that particular trophy is Yannick Gerhardt, who tasted victory back in 2011 with 1. FC Köln. In this interview, the VfL midfielder cast his mind back over a decade to that final before looking ahead to his own match that evening against Bayer Leverkusen at the Volkswagen Arena.

Yannick Gerhardt, our U17 team is on the cusp of greatness, having made it through to the final of the German B Junior championship. Have you been following their progress?

Yannick Gerhardt: “Of course I have! We’ve been getting nothing but positive feedback about our B-Juniors throughout the season and that gets you thinking back to your own time at that level.”

Der VfL-Wolfsburg-Spieler Yannick Gerhardt klatscht lachend in die Hände.

Speaking of which, you were in the final yourself 12 years ago, playing for 1. FC Köln away to Werder Bremen. What do you remember about that time?

Yannick: “That match was just crazy. I can still picture Lukas Scepanik scoring the winner from a good 40 metres out to make it 3-2 in extra time. We had a very successful year back then. To make it that far, you have to have won a load of matches across the season. Those were great days and ones that had a real effect on me.”

Later that evening, you face Bayer Leverkusen at the Volkswagen Arena. How do you think the team is playing at the moment?

Yannick: “For the effort we’re putting in, we’re quite simply not coming away with enough points. We have to create far too many chances to score and we need to be more efficient and clinical in front of goal. The match away to Gladbach is a shining example of that – against a team that was looking shaky, there was no way that we should have fallen behind. We needed to win that game. I do think though that despite this, the Leverkusen match is coming at the right time for us. Playing at home against a team that is fighting it out for the European spots is a real opportunity. And in any case, we’ll need to be at our best.”

Bayer are the form team at the moment, having won their last five matches in the league. How tough a task will this be?

Yannick: “It’ll be asking a lot of us, that’s for sure. Leverkusen have come on really well under their new coach. They’ve got a huge amount of pace in the team and players with real individual quality. Nevertheless, we’ve got enough potential to beat Bayer. We’ll be really well prepared for the match and we’ll be going all-out for the win. Every good run has to come to an end at some point.”