Preview: Can Wolfsburg go one better this season?
Last season, VfL Wolfsburg overcame many tough opponents en route to the Pokal semifinals. However, once there, they were undone by Jupp Heynckes’ all conquering, high-flying Bayern, 6-1. This time, they have been drawn in the opposite half, away from Bayern. However, their opponents recently beat the Bavarians 0-3. Dortmund will be coming into this match on the back of a very spirited and satisfying performance against the title winners. More importantly, the result helped keep Dortmund in second ahead of Schalke in third in the Bundesliga.
Wolfsburg took over fourth spot for a day only to have Leverkusen take over fourth after beating Hertha Berlin. They beat Nürnberg, 4-1; Ivan Perisic helped himself to a hat-trick. The previous meeting between Dortmund and Wolfsburg ended in a 2-1 win for the Ruhr side. Ivica Olic, the evergreen former Bayern and Hamburg striker, opened the scoring for Dieter Hecking’s side. In the second half, Dortmund scored an equalizer through none other than Robert Lewandowski, a late substitute against Bayern last weekend. Marco Reus, Dortmund’s hero against Real Madrid last week, scored the winner with roughly thirteen minutes of normal time left on the clock.
BVB will be coming into this match without Neven Subotic and Jakub Blaszczykowski. Marcel Schmelzer and Sven Bender will not return seemingly either. Ikay Gündogan has been ruled out for the remainder of the campaign. Diego Benaglio continues to be the biggest name missing for Wolfsburg. The goalkeeper has been excellent down the years; a finger injury will unfortunately keep him out of this encounter.
Dortmund has coped well without the majority of their stars this season. Jürgen Klopp will be pleased that he was able to grant Lewandowski a rest against Bayern. His star striker will now be fit as Dortmund challenge for the only trophy available to them this season. Can Klopp’s boys run to their third DFB Pokal final in a row? Or will Wolfsburg manage to make amends on last year and head to Berlin?
Where to watch the match: Live Streams, Live Scores, Start Times, TV Channels:
Watch Borussia Dortmund vs VfL Wolfsburg live on Tuesday, April 15, 2014:
In the UK at 19:30 BST on BT Sport 2
In the US at 14:30 ET on Univision Deportes, ESPN3
In Germany, viewers can tune into Sky Sport 1 Germany to watch this match amongst other networks.
For the complete TV listings and live scores upon kick-off, visit the Dortmund-Wolfsburg match page.
