Lipsia-Wolfsburg is a match valid for the 29th day of the Bundesliga and is played on Saturday at 3:30pm: live TV, probable formations, predictions.
While the title race in the Bundesliga has already been closed for a while, with Bayer Leverkusen just waiting to find out when they will be able to celebrate their first Schale, on the other hand we have a fight for fourth place that is still very open and uncertain. The two protagonists are Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund: both run the risk of staying out of the next edition of the Champions League.
Unless Germany closes the season at the top two places in the Uefa ranking – in which case the fifth-place finisher would also get a pass – Germany’s top league will send only four teams to the most fascinating continental competition. Marco Rose’s men, however, are in no position to make any calculations: while waiting to face Borussia Dortmund in their direct clash (scheduled in two weeks’ time), they must try to keep up with the yellow-and-whites. At the moment the two rivals are on equal points (53): credit to Leipzig’s success last Saturday at home to Freiburg, which was scrambled 4-1 at home. The Roten Bullen were good at taking advantage of Dortmund’s misstep, which was surprised at Signal Iduna Park by Stuttgart, which consolidated third place behind Bayer Leverkusen and Bayern Munich.
Chance Leipzig
Once eliminated from the Champions League – the red-and-whites went out in the round of 16 to Real Madrid – Leipzig put on the turbo, winning three of their last four games (three wins and a draw).
Hoping for good news from Monchengladbach, where Dortmund is on stage at the same time, Openda and his teammates will try to extend the positive series with Wolfsburg at the Red Bull Arena. The green-and-whites have recently changed technical leadership: for a couple of weeks Ralph Hasenhuttl, a coach who coached Leipzig from 2016 to 2018, has been on the bench. After a winning debut in Bremen (0-2), the new coach cashed in his first defeat in the last league round, losing at home to Borussia Monchengladbach (1-3). And the relegation zone remains ever close: third-last Mainz is -5.
The prediction
Leipzig has been almost always flawless since exiting the Champions League, dragged by the goals of Openda and Sesko, the Roten Bullen’s new attacking pair. Victory should come without major problems even with Wolfsburg, which does not seem to have solved its problems with the change of coach. Rose’s men are likely to score two to four goals.
The probable lineups of Leipzig-Wolfsburg
LIPSIA (4-4-2): Gulácsi; Simakan, Orban, Castello, Henrichs; Dani Olmo, Haidara, Schlager, Xavi Simons; Openda, Šeško.
WOLFSBURG (3-4-2-1): Pervan; Bornauw, Jenz, Zesiger; Baku, Gerhardt, Arnold, Mæhle; Tomás, Wimmer; Wind.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 3-1
