Wolfsburg
Wout Weghorst
is back in the squad after missing last match and it is big boost
Wout Weghorst - Attack (CF) - Regular player
Maximilian Arnold
is back in the squad after missing last match and it is big boost
Maximilian Arnold - Midfielder (CM) - Regular player
Koen Casteels
is back in the squad after missing last match and it is big boost
Koen Casteels - Goalkeeper (GK) - Regular player
William
will miss and it can be big blow for team
William - Defense (RB) - Regular player
“There’s still a pretty big question mark over Josuha Guilavogui. He only returned to training today and we’ll have to see how his knee reacts first.” - said head coach about the condition of players
Xaver Schlager (midfielder): “You can feel that there’s a bit of tension there. Europa League matches are something special. The late kick-off means that you have the whole day to get ready for a night under the floodlights. The win away to Hoffenheim certainly gave us a lot of confidence but regardless of that, we know exactly what we’ve got to do to get a good result. Ties like this are very different from league games. You can’t win it in the first leg but you can certainly lose it. We need to put ourselves in a good position as every goal counts, particularly away ones. Usually it’s the little things that decide who gets through and who doesn’t.”
Oliver Glasner: “We’ve really run the rule over Malmö, but there were two things that made that tough. They got a new coach in over the winter which brought about a change in tactics, and there’s also the fact that other than a cup tie last weekend, they haven’t played a match yet this year. We’ve really done our homework though and we know what to expect, which will be a well-run team with international experience who very much deserved to finish top of their group in the previous round. We won our last two Europa League matches against Oleksandrija and St. Etienne without conceding a goal. In knockout football, it’s even more important not to let any goals in, but we’re not going to sit back. What we need to do is find the right balance and take our chances up front if we’re going to achieve our aim of making it through to the last 16.”
Match referee: Gediminas Mažeika (LTU)
• This is the clubs' first encounter. Wolfsburg have only been drawn against Swedish opposition once before, when they beat IFK Göteborg 2-0 in both legs of a 2005 UEFA Intertoto Cup third-round tie.
• A sixth-placed finish in last season's Bundesliga ensured Wolfsburg direct entry into the UEFA Europa League group stage and a first European adventure since they reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League in 2015/16.
• Wolfsburg made it three UEFA Europa League group stage qualifications out of three as they finished runners-up to Gent this season, six of their points coming against Olexandriya (3-1 h, 1-0 a) and four against Saint-Étienne (1-1 a, 1-0 h).
• The German club are competing in the UEFA Europa League knockout phase for a third time, the last two participations having both ended in the quarter-finals. Their two previous round of 32 ties brought qualification at the expense of Villarreal in 2009/10 (2-2 a, 4-1 h) and Sporting CP in 2014/15 (2-0 h, 0-0 a). They are unbeaten in four games at this stage.
• Quarter-finalists also in the 2015/16 UEFA Champions League and therefore in each of their last three continental campaigns, Wolfsburg have won seven of their last eight European home games, the exception a 1-3 defeat by Gent on Matchday 4. They have won seven of their 12 home matches in the UEFA Europa League (D1 L4).
• Austrian coach Oliver Glasner signed a three-year contract in the spring of 2019 to succeed Bruno Labbadia at Wolfsburg. He arrived in Germany with a growing reputation having led LASK Linz to a runners-up spot in the Austrian Bundesliga just two seasons after steering the club to promotion from the second tier. A former centre-back, Glasner spent virtually his entire career with Ried, with whom he won the Austrian Cup twice, 13 years apart, in 1998 and 2011. He also spent a season as the club's coach before joining LASK in 2015.