Arminia Bielefeld v Wolfsburg: Hecking´s men in last-chance saloon

Having seen their UEFA Europa League and Bundesliga challenges come to an end over the last week, Wolfsburg will look to keep their DFB-Pokal hopes alive against Arminia Bielefeld.

Dieter Hecking’s men bowed out of European competition at the hands of Napoli last Thursday and succumbed to a 1-0 defeat against Bundesliga rivals Borussia Monchengladbach on Sunday.

That result handed Bayern Munich the title, leaving Wolfsburg with just one hope of claiming a trophy from what has been a largely promising season.

Norbert Meier’s Arminia have claimed top-flight scalps in the form of Hertha Berlin, Werder Bremen and Monchengladbach to reach the final four.

However, Wolfsburg’s sporting director Klaus Allofs urged his club not to dwell on Sunday’s defeat, telling their official website: “We’d have liked to have taken a step forward in terms of securing second place. We have not succeeded in doing that.

“But we must not let the result make us crazy. Of course we are not satisfied with the result, we played a good game but had no pace and were not quick enough on the counter.

“That makes it hard to get through such well-organised teams. Now we have to draw the right conclusions within the squad and regain points with good football.”

Wolfsburg full-back Ricardo Rodriguez, meanwhile, warned: “It will not be easy, we expect a tough game. We must give full throttle and can’t play like we did against Gladbach.”

Unlike their opponents, Bielefeld have title ambitions over their own to focus on aside from their Pokal commitments.

Meier’s men lead Holstein Kiel by five points going into the final four games, with forward Christoph Hemlein keen to enjoy Wednesday’s clash at SchucoArena.

“We will give full throttle in both games,” he said.

“Wednesday’s match is to enjoy as we have nothing to lose. The game on Saturday is then the priority.”