Wolfsburg vs. Bayern Munich preview: Team news and predicted lineups
VfL Wolfsburg
After taking over at Wolfsburg late in the 2023/24 season, Ralph Hasenhüttl has had some time to adjust his tactics and squad over the summer.
Things haven't looked too promising for Die Wölfe, however, as they won just one of their five pre-season games before a hard-fought 1-0 DFB-Pokal win over Oberliga side TuS Koblenz.
Wolfsburg will need to improve on that performance if they are to get anything out of Sunday's game against a rejuvenated Bayern Munich side.
The statistics suggest a Bayern win, with the Bavarians having won 12 of their last 13 games against Die Wölfe.
Wolfsburg's most expensive new signing is Kamil Grabara, who arrived from FC Copenhagen to replace Koen Casteels in goal for a reported 13 million. Die Wölfe have also splashed out on Greek defender Konstanis Koulierakis and have signed Mohamed Amoura on loan from Union SG. Unfortunately, the latter won't be ready for the start of the season after picking up an injury.
Aside from Casteels, Vaclav Cerny is their most notable departure, but Maxenco Lacroix could also leave before the end of the transfer window, with reports linking him with Crystal Palace.
Team News
In addition to Amoura, the Wolfsburg injury list includes Angely (match fitness), Behrens (muscular), Białek (knee), Mæhle (ankle), Nmecha (thigh), Rogério (knee), Vranckx (stomach) and Paredes (foot).
Bayern Munich
Bayern Munich will be looking to put a disappointing season behind them with Vincent Kompany now at the helm.
The former Burnley coach has made an impressive start to his reign, with Bayern impressing in pre-season friendlies and in their first round DFB-Pokal clash with Ulm, which ended in a comfortable 4-0 win for the record champions.
The Bavarians have spent heavily in the transfer market, bringing in Michael Olise, Joao Palhinha and Hiroki Ito for a total of €127.5 million.
In terms of departures, they've sold Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui to Manchester United in a double deal.
Team News
Bayern have had some bad luck in the pre-season, with Josip Stanisic and Hiroki Ito both picking up injuries that will keep them out of action for a while. With Stanisic injured and Joshua Kimmich back in central midfield, either Sasha Boey, Konrad Laimer or young Adam Aznou could get the chance at right-back.
Leroy Sané is still working on getting back to full fitness after undergoing groin surgery in July and is out as well.
Bayern will also be without Buchmann (muscular) and Ibrahimović (hamstring)
Click here to see our predicted Wolfsburg vs. Bayern Munich lineups.