VfL Wolfsburg vs. Borussia Dortmund preview: Fourteenth hosts second at Volkswagen Arena | OneFootball

VFL WOLFSBURG

Since 20 December, VfL Wolfsburg (5-4-11, 14th) have won just one of their last six matches (1-1-4), a dramatic late victory against relegation side FC St. Pauli. In that span of time, they scored eight goals and conceded eighteen, with nearly half of those having come in a 1-8 defeat to FC Bayern München a month ago.

Daniel Bauer’s side will look to turn their fortunes around,  but it will not be easy to do so in the next two weeks - as they face second-place Borussia Dortmund at home and fifth-place RB Leipzig away, with fourth-place VfB Stuttgart also coming up. Die Wölfe are just one point out of the relegation playoff, and five from the relegation zone.

Bauer addressed the recent defensive concerns in his press conference on Thursday afternoon at the Volkswagen Arena. “We have a defensive issue, because the number of goals conceded is definitely too high. That is definitely not down to solely one individual, such as the back four, but the entire team has a share in it.”

“Defensively, we are too vulnerable so far - that is very clear. We have been working on it very intensively this week, the only thing that helps is to keep working on it. Despite all of the tactical work and training, we simply have to reduce these vulnerable mistakes, because we still make too many of them at the end of the day,” he added.

Bauer concluded by saying, “It is not just about the centre-backs - as I said, it is all about other positions too. We have conceded too many goals, that is just a fact and we need to change that.”

Regarding the situation with their lineup and the lack of a consistent starting eleven, Bauer said: “It is clear that we simply do not have consistency in our lineup yet, because we simply have not brought consistency to our performance. Logically, this also led to minor injuries, or in the case of Moritz [Jenz], a suspension, where a change would be necessary anyway.”

“But overall, in 2026, we were too inconsistent; we scored too few points. The wish that we have is that we can now bring a certain stability to our lineup with some successes - but what is more important to me is that we bring stability to our performance, and then it can happen.”

“I am an evaluator, and I believe that I have said this before: never change your winning team. Training performance is always very important to me. We have a broad squad, and when I look at the training ground each week, I see players showcasing their skills, and so it is just a matter for us to find the right starting eleven for Dortmund, to make the right changes, and then maybe a core group will emerge - but that will only work long-term through consistently good performances on the pitch,” he concluded.

Wolfsburg have not defeated Dortmund in all competitions since October 2024, a 1-0 extra time victory in the DFB-Pokal; however, their last Bundesliga victory against BVB was by a 2-0 result in November 2022. Micky van de Ven scored the opening goal in the sixth minute, and Lukas Nmecha - whose brother, Felix, now plays at Dortmund - sealed the victory in the first minute of second half stoppage time.

Regarding Dortmund head coach Niko Kovač, who was formerly the head coach of the senior Wolfsburg squad between 2022 and 2024, Bauer said: “The workload as head coach of the Bundesliga squad is different from the youth squads - the structures are very important, and I totally appreciate Niko’s incredibly successful coaching career as a result.”

“He stands for clear values. When I look at the defensive behaviour of his teams, their transition behaviour, there is a lot of how I also see football and how I want to see it - the collective squad is in a compact order as much as possible. They are defending better than we are right now, this is logically reflected in the goals conceded - they also have a higher quality of players. But it also shows that you can see a very clear coaching style, what he stands for and stood for at his previous clubs.”

“A total discipline fanatic - and he also has our two old fitness coaches, with whom I used to work with, now in Dortmund. Therefore, there is definitely an exchange through those channels as well,” he finished.

Team News

Austrian attacking midfielder Patrick Wimmer (muscle) is doubtful to start according to Bauer, but Wolfsburg might still put him in the match at some point. “It is definitely not a serious injury, but time is running out before Saturday; we will have to determine whether we can take the risk for the Dortmund match,” the 43-year-old from Andernach, Rheinland-Pfalz said.

Danish left-back/left midfielder Joakim Mæhle (shoulder) is projected to be absent for the next two weeks, as is his Danish compatriot, striker Jonas Wind (hip); Brazilian centre-back Cleiton Santos (ankle) will be absent for the next three. Dutch centre-back Jenson Seelt (knee) will be absent until mid-March, and Brazilian left-back Rogério (unknown) will return soon after. The only long-term injury is Hungarian central midfielder/defensive midfielder Bence Dárdai (cruciate ligament), who currently cannot play until the start of the 2026/27 season at the earliest.

Projected Lineup (4-2-3-1): Grabara - Belocian, Koulierakis, Vavro, Fischer - Arnold, Eriksen - Amoura, Shiogai, Daghim - Pejčinović.

BORUSSIA DORTMUND

Borussia Dortmund (13-6-1, 2nd) enter the twenty-first matchday of the 2025/26 Bundesliga season knowing that a win, and an FC Bayern defeat to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, could put them just three points behind the reigning champions in the race to the title - with Der Klassiker itself in just three weeks.

This is the second consecutive season that head coach Niko Kovač has BVB in a UEFA Champions League spot, as Dortmund finished fourth in his first half-season in charge. Regarding how his team is faring at the moment, he said: “The table looks good. We can be very satisfied. But the teams behind us will do everything they can to catch up with us. We have to keep working and can't rest on our laurels.”

Kovač was asked about the current starting lineup and overall squad composition, or potential transfers that the club ultimately decided not to pursue in the winter transfer window to supposedly strengthen the squad.

The 54-year-old Berlin native and former Croatian international commented: “First of all, I am satisfied with the squad that we are now going into the second half of the season with. We have a large and high-quality squad. Regarding potentially strengthening the squad, we needed to discuss which club is letting go of someone who is a regular starter somewhere. There was not a single one like that in the world.”

“Additionally, those who are currently available [on our bench] cannot help us right now because they simply need time. They need to reach a better physical level that we use as a benchmark; they need to be integrated into all processes, which takes time, and we do not have that time - therefore, we saw absolutely no need to intervene,” he said.

Kovač was also asked what the squad prioritised in training ahead of this match, following their most recent result against relegation threatened 1. FC Heidenheim 1846 - in which they fell behind before ultimately scraping a 3-2 victory at Signal Iduna Park.

“We need to make sure we defend well - we have already got that down,” he begun. “We did not do well in the last match, but we also discussed and addressed that. That was certainly a topic, what did not go well, but we also looked through the things that went well.”

“I have to say, I really enjoyed the football against Heidenheim - especially in the second half, how we created the chances there. It is always a process, football is never a steady upward trend. There are always fluctuations, but when the wave goes upwards, it is always good - and there I see absolute progress.”

“We know where we were, where we are - but we also know what we have to do because the season is not over yet, and I am always one who raises my [pointer] finger in training, because resting does not help, the other clubs are always pushing ahead,” he concluded.

Kovač is also very familiar with Wolfsburg and the Volkswagen Arena, having managed the team in the 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons before taking the role at BVB - with the club having finished eighth and twelfth in those seasons.

Regarding the VfL side that is his opposition for this week, he said, “19 points do not reflect the quality of this team. The second half of the last match in Köln was really good as well; and VfL should have actually won that match … the quality of this team is already very high.”

Team News

The injury/absence list for Borussia Dortmund is quite short - down to only three players.

German centre-back Emre Can (illness/adductor issues) will be absent for a few days. Austrian defensive midfielder / central midfielder / left winger Marcel Sabitzer (calf) is projected to be out for at least 1 - 2 more weeks before returning to the training ground. Italian centre-back / right-back Filippo Mané (thigh) was projected to return in late February; however, Kovač was quoted as saying, “it will take a while - I am expecting about four to six weeks”.

As a result of these injuries, Luca Reggiani and Samuele Inacio, both Italian U17 internationals, and Mathis Albert, a United States U18 international, trained with the main squad on Thursday. “We will be doing this more and more in the coming weeks. There is a reason that these three are playing for BVB - they are internationals at the youth level, so they definitely have quality,” Kovač said.

Projected Lineup (3-4-2-1): Kobel - Schlotterbeck, Anton, Süle - Svensson, Nmecha, Bellingham, Ryerson - Brandt, Beier - Guirassy.