Red Bull Salzburg will be hoping that lightning strikes twice against Wolfsburg when they take on the German outfit in Tuesday's Champions League Group G tie.
The Austrian champions claimed a convincing 3-1 win in the first meeting with Florian Kohfeldt's side, who are still winless in this year's tournament.
Match preview
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Unable to maintain his side's positive start to proceedings as the colder temperatures set in, Mark van Bommel departed Wolfsburg to make way for new blood in Florian Kohfeldt, whose appointment raised some eyebrows given his previous stint with now-2. Bundesliga side Werder Bremen.
However, Kohfeldt's reign got off to the perfect start at the weekend as his side marched to a 2-0 victory over Bayer Leverkusen in the top flight, with Lukas Nmecha and Maximilian Arnold both firing home quickfire strikes just after the restart.
Ending his side's eight-game winless run in all tournaments is a surefire way for Kohfeldt to endear himself to the Wolfsburg faithful, but the German side are fighting an uphill battle to keep their European dream alive having taken just two points from three games so far.
Draws with Sevilla and Lille preceded that 3-1 defeat to Salzburg for Wolfsburg, who occupy fourth spot in Group G, but the tight nature of the table sees second-placed Sevilla sit just one point above their counterparts, who could blow the race for the top two wide open with all three points here.
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Unsurprisingly up to his old tricks once again, Salzburg starlet Karim Adeyemi took all of three minutes to open the scoring against Wolfsburg last week before another young talent in 21-year-old Noah Okafor stole the show up top.
Nmecha's equaliser for Wolfsburg saw the two sides head into the break level pegging, but Okafor's second-half brace saw this incredibly youthful Salzburg side maintain their unbeaten start to life in the 2021-22 Champions League, and in emphatic fashion too.
Okafor was once again on target at the weekend as Matthias Jaissle's side travelled to play SV Ried in the Austrian Bundesliga, but Salzburg were forced to share the spoils in that encounter, as substitute Leo Mikic forced a 2-2 draw to halt the visitors' momentum somewhat.
However, Salzburg remain unbeaten in all competitions since the 2021-22 season kicked off - recording 18 wins and three draws in that time - and they will remain at the top of the rankings in Champions League Group G no matter what transpires this weekend.
Incredibly, the Austrian side have not failed to score away from home in any competition since December 2020, although all three of their stalemates this term have come on the road, and Wolfsburg are not to be taken lightly as Kohfeldt seeks to prove himself in the big time once more.
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Team News
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Wolfsburg will welcome midfielder Joshua Guilavogui back from a Champions League ban this week, but a spate of injuries and COVID-19 infections have depleted Kohfeldt's ranks ahead of this game.
Indeed, star striker Wout Weghorst tested positive some weeks ago but has a chance of returning to the fold here, but Luca Waldschmidt, Jerome Roussillon and Xaver Schlager are among those in the treatment room.
Maxence Lacroix was dismissed at the weekend but will be available here, while Paulo Otavio and Dodi Lukebakio will push for starting roles after coming on at half time against Leverkusen.
As for Salzburg, midfielder Nicolas Capaldo has now been booked three times in three European games and will miss this match, but he only came off the bench in the first win over Wolfsburg anyway.
The visitors remain short in the heart of defence with Oumar Solet and Kamil Piatkowski out of action, while teenage forward Benjamin Sesko and 34-year-old midfielder Zlatko Junuzovic are also injured.
Former Brighton & Hove Albion defender Bernardo started at centre-back for Salzburg in league action at the weekend, but it would not be a surprise to see Maximilian Wober return to the heart of defence here.
Wolfsburg possible starting lineup:
Casteels; Mbabu, Lacroix, Brooks, Otavio; Arnold, Guilavogui, Vranckx; Lukebakio, L. Nmecha, Gerhardt
Red Bull Salzburg possible starting lineup:
Kohn; Kristensen, Ongune, Wober, Ulmer; Sucic, Camara, Siewald; Aaronson; Adeyemi, Okafor
We say: Wolfsburg 2-2 Red Bull Salzburg
Salzburg's inexperience in Europe has not caught up with them just yet, but Wolfsburg are firmly enjoying that new manager bounce, if their game against Leverkusen was anything to go by.
The visitors never have any problem in the final third but do not exactly boast the most impenetrable defence in Europe, so we think a fast-paced encounter will end with a share of the spoils.
Top tip
Ben Knapton
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Red Bull Salzburg win with a probability of 46.52%. A win for Wolfsburg had a probability of 28.16% and a draw had a probability of 25.3%.
The most likely scoreline for a Red Bull Salzburg win was 0-1 with a probability of 10.54%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (9.27%) and 0-2 (8.13%). The likeliest Wolfsburg win was 1-0 (7.81%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.03%). The actual scoreline of 2-1 was predicted with a 6.9% likelihood.
