Wolfsburg hoping for beginners' luck

Bundesliga winners for the first time in May, VfL Wolfsburg will be making their maiden UEFA Champions League appearance when they take on PFC CSKA Moskva in the opening round of Group B fixtures.

Quotes
Armin Veh, Wolfsburg coach
We are very glad to play in the Champions League because the best teams in Europe play there and we want to compare ourselves with them. We want to show that we can keep up. I am sure we will win tomorrow. I don't know how CSKA will play because they have a new coach and he made a lot of changes in the last game they played in the Russian league. They have a very experienced team with a lot of players who are playing in their national teams. Edin Džeko is a player who could play from the beginning in every match, but I have a lot of other good players so it could be that he sits on the bench. It is important is that my players do not play in the Champions League to swap jerseys with the other team, but because they want to win.

Juande Ramos, CSKA coach
The team is in a very good physical shape. I can't say so much because I have only been the coach for four days, but everything I saw in training today was very good. Any teams that play in the Champions League have to be very good and have very strong players, but we have watched Wolfsburg, know their strengths and weaknesses, and we are confident that we are good enough to beat them, even though they have developed and added some players since last season. The fact that I am new here is not a big issue. The players know they have a responsibility to have a good UEFA Champions League season.

Key stats
• It will be a night of firsts for Veh's Wolfsburg. Besides being newcomers to the UEFA Champions League, they are also facing their first ever meeting with Russian opposition.

• Novices on this stage, Wolfsburg can call on the experience of three players in their squad who have played UEFA Champions League football before: Ricardo Costa with FC Porto, Obafemi Martins with FC Internazionale Milano and Karim Ziani with Olympique de Marseille.

• CSKA fared well on their travels in Europe in 2008/09, winning three and losing just one of five matches en route to the last 16 of the UEFA Cup. Their away record in the UEFA Champions League makes less encouraging reading, CSKA winning just once of 12 group-stage matches on the road, a 3-1 success at PSG in 2004/05.

• CSKA's only previous visit to Germany ended with a defeat at Hamburger SV in the 2006/07 UEFA Champions League.

Team news
• Wolfsburg
Out: Alexander Esswein (thigh)
Suspended: none
Misses next match if booked: none

• CSKA
Out: Mark González (thigh)
Suspended: none
Misses next match if booked: none

Weekend results
12/09/09 Wolfsburg 2-3 Bayer 04 Leverkusen
(Misimović 76, Grafite 80pen; Rolfes 38 51pen, Kiessling 58)

12/09/09 CSKA 3-0 FC Krylya Sovetov Samara
(Necid 57, Guilherme 59 80)

Did you know?
CSKA are bidding to reach the latter stages for the first time since qualifying for the last eight of the inaugural UEFA Champions League season in 1992/93.