Madrid seek to overhaul Wolfsburg deficit

VfL Wolfsburg and Real Madrid CF are at the opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of UEFA Champions League quarter-final experience as they prepare for the second leg in the Spanish capital.

• Wolfsburg, however, hold the upper hand in the tie thanks to goals from Ricardo Rodriguez and Maximilian Arnold in the first leg in Germany – ending Madrid's unbeaten run in this season's competition. It was their 19th defeat in 29 visits to Bundesliga clubs.

Previous meetings
• The first leg was the sides' first meeting – and only Wolfsburg's fifth game against Spanish opposition.

Match background

Real Madrid
• Madrid are in the quarter-finals for the sixth season in a row – they have won their last five and nine of the last ten. Their European Cup quarter-final record is W26 L6.

• Madrid have won all four home games in this season's competition, including a 2-0 defeat of AS Roma in the round of 16 second leg for a 4-0 aggregate success, and an overwhelming 8-0 defeat of Malmö FF in December – the joint-biggest victory in 24 years of the UEFA Champions League. Overall at home they have scored 15 goals and conceded none.

• Madrid's record in two-legged ties with German clubs in UEFA competition is W12 L8. They have won each of their last four ties against German opposition, scoring 22 goals in the process.

• Madrid lost their most recent fixture against German opposition, 4-3 at home to FC Schalke 04 in last season's round of 16 second leg, yet still prevailed in that tie having triumphed 2-0 away.

• The Schalke defeat ended a run of four straight home wins and a 12-game unbeaten run at the Santiago Bernabéu (W10 D2), against German visitors.

• Madrid's overall home record against Bundesliga clubs is W22 D4 L3; overall, it is W28 D10 L23.

• Madrid have overturned a first-leg away defeat 22 times, failing on a further 16 occasions including the last five – most recently against Juventus in last season's semi-finals. However, they have retrieved large first-leg away deficits: against Derby County FC (1975/76 European Champion Clubs' Cup second round: 1-4 away, 5-1 home); RSC Anderlecht (1984/85 UEFA Cup third round: 0-3 away, 6-1 home); and VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach (1985/86 UEFA Cup third round: 1-5 away, 4-0 home).

• Madrid's shoot-out record in European competition is W1 L2:
5-6 v FK Crvena zvezda, 1974/75 European Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals
3-1 v Juventus, 1986/87 European Cup second round
1-3 v FC Bayern München, 2011/12 UEFA Champions League semi-finals

Wolfsburg
• In the UEFA Champions League for only the second time following their 2009/10 debut, Wolfsburg are in the knockout stages for the first time.

• This is the German club's third quarter-final in a major UEFA competition. Beaten 3-1 on aggregate by Fulham FC in the 2009/10 UEFA Europa League (1-2 away, 0-1 home), they also lost to SSC Napoli at the same stage of last season's competition (1-4 home, 2-2 away).

• Wolfsburg lost their first two away games in this season's competition, but have won the last two, 2-0 at PFC CSKA Moskva on matchday five and 3-2 at KAA Gent in the round of 16 first leg.

• Dieter Hecking's side have lost only two of their last nine European away games, winning five.

• The German club have won all four ties in UEFA competition in which they won the home first leg. That includes two 2-0 first-leg successes, most recently against Sporting Clube de Portugal in last season's UEFA Europa League round of 32 (0-0 away).

• Wolfsburg have never been involved in a penalty shoot-out in UEFA competition.

Coach and player links
• Wolfsburg's Julian Draxler was in the Schalke team beaten by Madrid in the 2013/14 round of 16, the Germans losing 6-1 in Gelsenkirchen and 3-1 in Madrid. Cristiano Ronaldo, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema all scored twice in the first leg, Ronaldo adding two more at the Santiago Bernabéu.

• Toni Kroos scored at the VfL Wolfsburg Arena for Bayer Leverkusen, where he was on loan from Bayern München, on 18 April 2009. Wolfsburg went on to win 2-1.

• Josuha Guilavogui is currently on loan at Wolfsburg from Club Atlético de Madrid, for whom he has made just one appearance.

• Kroos faced Wolfsburg 12 times during his time in Germany with FC Bayern München (2007–09, 2010–14) and Bayer 04 Leverkusen (2009–10) with the record W10 D1 L1.

• Daniel Carvajal spent 2012/13 on loan at Leverkusen, recording a draw and two losses against Wolfsburg.

• André Schürrle and Kroos each scored twice as Germany beat a Brazil side containing Marcelo and Luiz Gustavo 7-1 in the 2014 FIFA World Cup semi-finals.

• Kroos scored Germany's winner in a November 2014 friendly against Spain, with Kiko Casilla and Sergio Ramos in the home team. Max Kruse also featured for Germany, with Robin Knoche an unused substitute.

• Play for same country:
Joshua Guilavogui & Raphaël Varane, Karim Benzema (France)
André Schürrle, Julian Draxler, Max Kruse, Maximilian Arnold, Sebastian Jung, Christian Träsch, Marcel Schäfer & Toni Kroos (Germany)
Luiz Gustavo, Dante & Marcelo, Danilo, Casemiro (Brazil)
Vieirinha & Cristiano Ronaldo, Pepe (Portugal)

• Have played together
Toni Kroos & Dante (Bayern, 2012–14)
Toni Kroos & Luiz Gustavo (Bayern, 2011–13)

Match facts

Real Madrid
• Casemiro, Danilo and Sergio Ramos will incur a suspension with their next bookings.

• The defeat in Wolfsburg ended Madrid's six-match winning run.

• Cristiano Ronaldo took his Liga total to 30 for the season in Saturday's 4-0 defeat of Eibar; he is the first player to reach 30 goals in six successive Liga seasons.

Wolfsburg
• Arnold, Diego Benaglio, Daniel Caligiuri, Vieirinha and Luiz Gustavo are a booking away from a ban.

• The victory over Madrid was Wolfsburg's first win in four games. Their 1-1 draw against Mainz on Saturday was their fourth successive Bundesliga game without a victory (D2 L2).

• Winter signing Bruno Henrique made his first start for Wolfsburg in the quarter-final first leg.

• Naldo, expected to miss the rest of the campaign after sustaining a right shoulder injury against Bayern on 27 February, returned to the side against Madrid.

• Caligiuri has been out since sustaining a groin injury against SV Darmstadt 98 on 19 March.

• Jung suffered a knee injury in Ghent on 17 February and was ruled out for the remainder of the season.

• On 12 January, Bas Dost fractured a metatarsal in his left foot during Wolfsburg's winter training camp in Portugal. He returned to play 71 minutes against Mainz on Saturday.