Wolfsburg will be looking to end their poor run against RB Leipzig in the DFB-Pokal on Tuesday. The hosts fell to a 3-2 loss to 10-man Augsburg in their last Bundesliga affair. Die Roten Bullen put six past Koln without reply in a demolition job.
Preview (Wolfsburg vs. RB Leipzig)
Although Wolfsburg’s problems do not lie in breaking through opposition rearguards, as evidenced by the impressive play of Danish striker Jonas Wind in the last third of the game, for the third straight game, Niko Kovac’s team was unable to combine attacking skill with defensive competence. After Philip Tietz’s opening goal, Wind’s eighth top-flight goal of the season and a Lovro Majer penalty put Wolfsburg ahead against Augsburg. However, Sebastian Bornauw’s own goal leveled the score two minutes before Arne Engels made the game-winning kick.
Kovac’s team has only failed to make the net bulge in one of their previous 11 competitive games at the Volkswagen Arena. However, following their six-goal performance in the DFB-Pokal, the Wolves will have to test their mettle against a team that is no stranger to such a scoreline. The way RB Leipzig won their first DFB-Pokal of the season was significantly less dramatic. The defending champions prevailed 3-2 over Wehen Wiesbaden. A brace from Benjamin Sesko and an Emil Forsberg goal finally proved decisive.
The latter was on the scoreboard when Koln visited town over the weekend. Leipzig’s ruthless crop ran out 6-0 winners to claim their third straight victory in all competitions. It’s possible that Stephan Baumgart’s team wishes they had not bothered. The lethal young combination of Lois Openda and Xavi Simons once again stole the show as the former scored his seventh and eighth goals of the season at the Red Bull Arena off of Simons’s fifth and sixth assists. Timo Werner, David Raum, and Christoph Baumgartner all added another goal to their totals.
Team News
In the 52nd minute this past weekend, Kovac was forced to substitute Patrick Wimmer due to injury. Hopefully, the attacker only suffered a knock. Augsburg was already without a number of players going into this match. Although Kovac is hopeful that Rogerio may return to action next weekend. It is difficult to see Wimmer making a quick return this week given the short turnaround. Koen Casteels, Lucas Nmecha, Rogerio, Florian Fischer, and Felix Lange are all still out of the running.
Tiago Tomas, who scored two of his team’s six goals in the first round, should be given the chance to shine up top as Wimmer is probably going to be saved, while a healthy Vaclav Cerny offers an alternate. After just seven minutes of play off the bench, Dani Olmo exited the field with a probable shoulder fracture. It left Leipzig with yet another attacking issue following their crushing defeat of Koln. Olmo will likely miss more time due to injury. Rose has allayed concerns over the former Chelsea striker suffering an injury.
If Simons, the Paris Saint-Germain loanee is rested, then Kampl, Baumgartner, Forsberg, and Fabio Carvalho might all compete to fill in for him. However, Willi Orban and El Chadaille Bitshiabu, the defensive duo, are still recovering from knee injuries. Leipzig, despite some possible rotations, could have a field day against a shaky Wolfsburg defense after scoring 12 goals at the right end of the field in their last 270 minutes of play. This was the case in their Bundesliga encounters from the previous season. The hosts, who could still feel a glimmer of offensive joy against their injured guests, are all too familiar with DFB-Pokal exits to Die, Roten Bullen.
Wolfsburg 1 – 3 RB Leipzig
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