Bayern Munich vs. Wolfsburg preview: Bavarians looking to reclaim second spot
Bayern Munich
Bayern will end the season without a trophy for the first time since 2011/12 after their Champions League dreams were crushed by Real Madrid in midweek. The Bavarians appeared to be heading towards the final when Alphonso Davies fired his side into the lead at the Santiago Bernabéu. However, the Bavarians went on to concede two late goals in three minutes to fall to a 2-1 defeat on the night and a 3-2 loss on aggregate.
After being eliminated in Wednesday’s semi-final, Bayern will have to pick themselves up for their final two league games against Wolfsburg and Hoffenheim. The Bavarians will start Sunday’s game in third place after Stuttgart climbed into second with a 1-0 win over Augsburg on Friday.
The hosts will also be keen to claim three points in Thomas Tuchel’s final home game as manager. The Bavarians can certainly take confidence from the fact they have won 16 of their last 18 competitive meetings with Wolfsburg.
Team News
Bayern are expected to be without Leroy Sané, Jamal Musiala and Serge Gnabry for the rest of the season. Harry Kane is also set to miss Sunday’s fixture due to a back problem, while the hosts are still unable to call upon Raphaël Guerreiro, Kingsley Coman and Tarek Buchmann.
Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg head into Sunday’s contest in a confident mood after recording three consecutive victories. They claimed narrow wins over Bochum and Freiburg, before they cruised past Darmstadt in their most recent outing. Patrick Wimmer, Jonas Wind and Václav Černý all got on the scoresheet to help their side claim a commanding 3-0 home win over the basement side.
Ralph Hasenhüttl’s charges are now sitting in 12th place with 37 points to their name. Wolfsburg will move into the top half of the table if they can claim maximum points at the Allianz Arena. However, their hopes of clinching a victory will be tempered by the fact they have never beaten Bayern in a Bundesliga away game. Their most recent league victory against the Bavarians took place over nine years ago in January 2015. On that occasion, Wolfsburg produced a free-scoring display to run out 4-1 winners at the Volkswagen Arena.
Team News
Wolfsburg are without the injured trio of Lukas Nmecha, Mattias Svanberg and Aster Vranckx.