Wolfsburg vs Borussia Dortmund

Volkswagen Arena is the venue as Wolfsburg and Borussia Dortmund lock horns in a mouth-watering DFB-Pokal tie.

Wolfsburg’s underwhelming Bundesliga form hit a new low at the weekend. A scoreless draw at newly promoted St Pauli marked their fifth winless outing in the last six (W1, D2, L3), leaving them agonizingly close to the bottom three. With only three points separating them from the relegation zone, Ralph Hasenhüttl’s team may find this DFB-Pokal a welcome distraction, even though they barely edged lower-league TuS Koblenz 1-0 in the previous round. If it’s any consolation, the abovementioned stalemate against St. Pauli ended Wolfsburg’s run of five consecutive matches against top-tier opposition without a clean sheet, four of which saw them concede multiple goals.

On the other hand, Borussia Dortmund threw away an early lead in a frustrating 2-1 loss at Augsburg last weekend, days after letting a two-goal cushion slip through their grasp in a humiliating 5-2 UEFA Champions League defeat at Real Madrid. As the pressure starts to mount on manager Nuri Sahin, ‘Die Borussen’ head to Wolfsburg, looking to defy an underwhelming run of three losses from their last four competitive outings (W1). The visitors can draw heart from a three-game unbeaten H2H run against Wolfsburg (W2, D1). However, after winning seven consecutive away H2Hs, they’ve gone winless in the last two (D1, L1).