VFB Wolfsburg will travel to Austria to face Red Bull Salzburg in their third group game of the 2021-22 UEFA Champions League season. Wolfsburg are currently third in their UCL group with two points from two games. They started the campaign with a goalless draw away from home at Lille, followed by a 1-1 draw against Sevilla. On the other hand, Salzburg are at the top of the group, after they started the campaign with a 1-1 draw against Sevilla, followed by a 2-1 victory over Lille. Both teams will hope to turn the results in the upcoming games towards themselves to qualify for the knockout stages of the competition.
Domestically, Wolfsburg are currently sixth in the Bundesliga standings with 13 points from their opening eight games. Their recent form has been bad as they have lost their last three league games in the league. Meanwhile, RB Salzburg are eight points clear at the top of the Austrian league, with 31 points from their level games and are yet to lose a single game this season. With the current form, they are in, the Austrian club is expected to finish the group as one of the two teams who qualify for the next round. Wolfsburg will be competing with Lille and Sevilla for the qualifying spots.
RB Salzburg have had decent form going forward in the competition. They scored once in the opening game against Sevilla, and twice in their 2-1 win over Lille. The above viz is their shot map against Lille, and it shows that they took 12 hots in the game, most of which were from inside the penalty area. They also scored both their goals from inside the box and hit the target four times in the match. They will look to keep up their goal scoring form to keep hold of the top spot of the group.
The above viz shows the passing zones of the Salzburg side in their opening game of the UCL campaign against Sevilla. It can be noticed that the Austrian side had most of their passes completed from midfield to the right and left-wing. They put in a lot of crosses into the box, and have also provided a decent number of smart passes. Wolfsburg will have to keep RB Salzburg silent on the wings if they want to get a result from the match.
Wolfsburg have drawn both their opening UCL games this season, and have only scored one goal so far. The viz above shows their shot map against Lille when they drew 1-1. We can see that they did not take many shots in the game, with just eight, and hit the target only twice. They took a few shots from long range as well. They will hope to find the target more often against Salzburg, and increase their chances of qualifying for the knockout stags of the competition.
The above viz shows the shot map of VFB Wolfsburg against Sevilla in their opening game of this seasons UCL group stages. It shows that they completed most of their passes in that match in the midfield and defensive areas, with very few passes in the attacking third. They lacked creativity and smart passes and only put in a few crosses into the box. They will hope to be more effective in their game against Salzburg, and get a result to see them move up in the group standings.
With the group completely open to anyone, it will be an interesting game between RB Salzburg and VFB Wolfsburg. A win for Salzburg will confirm that they have very high chances to go through to the next round, On the other hand, a Wolfsburg victory will completely ope the group and anyone could need up finishing in the qualifying spots. we expect Wolfsburg to secure a narrow 2-1 victory over RB Salzburg.
FC Red Bull Salzburg’s Predicted Starting XI (5-3-2): GK: Philipp Köhn, LWB: Rasmus Kristensen, CBs: Jérome Onguéné, Maximillian Wöber and Andreas Ulmer, LWB: Mohammed Camara, RM: Brenden Aaronson, CM: Luka Sucic, Nikolas Seiwald, RCF: Noah Okafor, LCF: Karim Adeyemi
Wolfsburg’s Predicted Starting XI (4-2-3-1): GK: Koen Casteels, LB: Jérome Roussilon, CBs: John Brooks and Maxence Lacroix, RB:Kevin Mbabu, CDMs: Maximillian Arnold and Ridle Baku, LAM: Renato Steffen , CAM: Maximillian Philipp, RAM: Dodi Lukebakio, ST: Lukas Nmecha
