Gent vs Wolfsburg – UEFA Champions League – Preview

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Sreya

Wolfsburg travel to Ghelamco Arena in Belgium on 17th February, Wednesday to face Gent in the first leg of their Round of 16 UEFA Champions League fixture. It will be a pivotal game for the Belgian side who exceeded expectations when they qualified for the knock-outs from Group H, only behind Zenit St. Petersburg.

Wolfsburg, who won only one away fixture in this season’s Champions League, also surprised spectators when they knocked out Manchester United to win Group B. The Bundesliga club is coming off a morale-boosting win over Ingolstadt after a winless streak of seven matches.

Team News

Hannes Van Der Bruggen and Peter Olayinka are sidelined through injuries while Brecht Dejaegere and Moses Simon have knocks and will face late fitness tests. For the visitors, Naldo will miss the first-leg through suspension after reaching the yellow card limit in the group stages. Bas Dost, Carlos Ascues, Diego Benaglio and Josuha Guilavogui have been ruled out due to injuries.

Gent Possible Starting Lineup: Matz Sels, Rafinha, Stefan Mitrovic, Lasse Nielsen, Thomas Foket, Danijel Milicevic, Sven Kums, Renato Neto, Brecht Dejaegere, Moses Simon, Laurent Depoitre.

Wolfsburg Possible Starting Lineup: Koen Casteels, Sebastian Jung, Robin Knoche, Dante, Ricardo Rodriguez, Luiz Gustavo, Christian Trasch, Vieirinha, Julian Draxler, Daniel Caliguiri, Max Kruse.

Thoughts From Both Camps

“Our win over Mouscron at the weekend was very important. We would have had an entirely different feeling heading into the game against Wolfsburg without the win. I am really looking forward to Wednesday’s game. Playing in the Champions League round of 16 is like a dream come true for any player. The atmosphere will be incredible again.”

– Brecht Dejaegere, Gent.

“We needed a good result at the weekend after some difficult weeks and we did just that. The win over Ingolstadt was a confidence boost. We want to build on that against Gent.

We are heading into the game with a positive feeling. Saturday’s win was a step in the right direction. It is not the first time this season that we will have to deal with the absence of key players. We can succeed in doing that again on Wednesday if we stick together as a team.”

– Julian Draxler, Wolfsburg.

Contributor’s Pick

According to Head-2-Head Statistics, these two clubs have never faced each other before. Gent have won their last three matches in the UEFA Champions League, all of them by a one-goal margin. With Wolfsburg currently stuttering in their domestic campaign, a 1-1 draw seems the most probable result of the first leg.