Wolfsburg plan Malanda tribute

Wolfsburg supporters and players have worked together to produce a pre-game display to honour Junior Malanda on Friday.

Wolfsburg sporting director Klaus Allofs revealed on Thursday that the Bundesliga club will hold a minute’s applause before Friday’s top-of-the-table clash with Bayern Munich to commemorate Junior Malanda’s death.

Malanda died in a car accident earlier this month as he was travelling to the airport for Wolfsburg’s training camp in South Africa during the Bundesliga’s winter break.

To honour the defensive midfielder and Belgium Under 21 international, Allofs explained a minute’s applause – rather than silence – would be held at the Volkswagen Arena in Wolfsburg’s first match after the winter break, while a choreographed display – or tifo – would be led by the club’s fans.

Malanda played 17 Bundesliga matches for Wolfsburg after joining from Zulte-Waregem halfway through last season.

“We made the decision that we won’t have a minute of silence before the game. We want to connect on the way the people did in Belgium for Malanda’s funeral,” Allofs said at a media conference.

“The fans will be clapping for a minute instead of silence. Furthermore our fans will show a choreography.

“The supporters planned this together with support of the players. So this will be something new and different from other choreographies before.”

The tifo will involve green hearts, which will be spread around the stadium for supporters to hold aloft.

Wolfsburg will enter Friday’s match in second position and 11 points behind Bundesliga-leaders Bayern, and coach Dieter Hecking cannot wait for his team to test themselves against the Munich-based club.

In the first half of the 2014-15 campaign, Wolfsburg lost 2-1 in Munich.

“Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in Europe at this moment [are] the absolutely best teams,” Hecking said.

“It will be our target for the next years to get on the same level of those teams. On Friday we will see how far we are at the moment.

“I like it and I’m really looking forward to playing against the best teams.”