To kick off the new Champions League season, VfL Wolfsburg will travel to face OSC Lille on Tuesday 14 September. While the Wolves have got off to the start they were hoping for in the Bundesliga, the French champions have already dropped valuable points. Five games in and coach Jocelyn Gourvennec’s team are currently down in 12th and already ten points adrift of leaders Paris Saint-Germain. The Wolves meanwhile will be heading to Lille full of confidence on the back of four wins in as many Bundesliga matches.
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The French champions’ dress rehearsal for this match last Saturday did not go quite as planned, with a 2-1 loss away to Lorient. Lille have already shipped 11 goals in five matches, with just one win to show for their efforts.
Recent OSC recruit Amadou Onana cut his teeth in German football. The defensive midfielder played in the TSG Hoffenheim youth system (at U17 and U19 levels) before moving to Hamburger SV last year. The 19-year-old then joined the Ligue 1 club this summer.
The Wolves first met their French opponents in the group stage of the Europa League in the 2014/15 season. The opening match between the two sides on 2 October saw a 1-1 draw at the Volkswagen Arena, while VfL were by far the better team in the return leg on 11 December 2014, recording a 3-0 win over in Lille. Vieirinha gave the Wolves the lead on the stroke of half-time before Ricardo Rodriguez bagged a second-half brace. The Green-and-Whites went on to reach the quarter-finals that season before being knocked out by Napoli.
The Wolves’ most recent Champions League appearances came in the 2015/16 season, courtesy of a second-place finish in the Bundesliga. Again they made it as far as the last eight and even managed a 2-0 win over Real Madrid in the first leg, only to lose 3-0 in Spain.
After a five-year hiatus, the Green-and-Whites are back in the Champions League again. This opening group game against Lille will be the club’s 86th match in Europe.
