Malmo FF sounds like an unspectacular Europa League opponent at first. But the Swedes have already been in a European Cup final. They like to pick up trainers who are also known in Germany. And they are difficult to grasp for VfL Wolfsburg.
Wolfsburg (dpa) - In a relationship, VfL Wolfsburg has perhaps drawn the toughest Europa League lot of all. Because the intermediate round opponent Malmö FF from Sweden has not played in a league for three and a half months and no international game for more than two months.
So how should you prepare for an opponent (Thursday, 9:00 p.m. / DAZN) if they have lost their coach and their best player during their long winter break? A first attempt to gain knowledge failed. At the beginning of the month, a video analyst from the Bundesliga club wanted to watch a Sweden training session during their training camp in Spain and pretended to be a German journalist. Malmö FF employees, however, exposed the spy.
At least the wolves got some information free at last. "Malmö comes with an experienced team that will not pee in front of Wolfsburg," said the "kicker" the coach who was in charge of the European Cup finalists from 1979 until the end of the Europa League preliminary round in December. His name is Uwe Rösler and he is now training Fortuna Düsseldorf in the Bundesliga. His successor in Malmö also knows German football well: It is the Danes Jon Dahl Tomasson who, in addition to AC Milan and Feyenoord Rotterdam, also have VfB Stuttgart (2005/06) as a career station.
The Europa League is an ambivalent thing for Wolfsburg. So far, only 10,800 spectators have attended the three home games this season. And it's really hot for the next game on Thursday evening only in Sweden. Because there Malmö FF announced that it would be accompanied by more than 4,000 fans to the Volkswagen Arena.
For image reasons alone, this competition still has a "special meaning" for VfL. That's what the managing director Michael Meeske of the German Press Agency said. "As a Volkswagen subsidiary, we naturally position ourselves as an international football topic. For example, we were the first Bundesliga club to have its own office in China," said Meeske. "The whole topic of internationality is therefore central to us. Of course, the Europa League also helps here. For example, when approaching sponsors or in the perception of young target groups. If you are a European Cup club, you will be perceived differently per se. "
Wolfsburg therefore have two major goals: To remain a European Cup club for as long as possible this season. And maybe to be one again next season. In the Bundesliga you are lagging far behind international places. In the Europa League, the competition starts again on Thursday from scratch. "VfL has completely different options if you look at the squad or the budget. That is a different world compared to Malmö," said Uwe Rösler this time to the "Wolfsburger Allgemeine Zeitung". "I say the chances are 60:40 for Wolfsburg."
Homepage of the VfL Wolfsburg
The Europa League at uefa.com
VfL Wolfsburg's Europa League squad
VfL Wolfsburg's European Cup record
Game data
The Europa League squad from Malmö FF
Homepage of Malmö FF