Professionals, 18. December 2020
Matarazzo’s men take on Wolfsburg at 18:00 CET on Sunday to round off Matchday 13. “Wolfsburg have a very good and hard-working team,” VfB’s head coach said on Friday. “They defend compactly, aggressively and don’t give the opposition many real chances. As well as that, they have a cutting edge in attack. We’ve got a big challenge ahead of us. For us, it will be about matching them physically, using our flair a lot to find spaces and attacking with purpose.”
The statistics back up Matarazzo’s assessment of the opposition. The Wolves set a new club record by going unbeaten in the first 11 matches of the season, before suffering their first defeat of the campaign with a 2-1 loss at Bayern Munich on Wednesday. The Lower Saxony club have also won their last four games at home.
Matarazzo believes his players are up to the challenge, though: “The players are still working their socks off,” he said. “The energy in the team is right. I hope that we stay as hungry for wins as we have been up to now.”
On the personnel front, Orel Mangala is struggling with a muscular problem and remains a doubt for Sunday’s clash.