United aim to bounce back against Wolfsburg

Manchester United FC will try again to get their first points on the board in UEFA Champions League Group B when they host VfL Wolfsburg on matchday two.

• Man. United suffered a 2-1 loss at PSV Eindhoven on matchday one, but Wolfsburg made a positive start with a 1-0 home victory over PFC CSKA Moskva.

Previous meetings
• This latest encounter falls precisely six years ago to the day since the first – when United overturned an Edin Džeko goal (56) at Old Trafford to win 2-1 through Ryan Giggs (58) and Michael Carrick (78).

• The lineups for that group stage match on 30 September 2009 were:
United: Kuszczak, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Vidić, Evra, Valencia (Fletcher 82), Anderson, Carrick, Giggs, Owen (Berbatov 20), Rooney.
Wolfsburg: Benaglio, Riether, Costa, Madlung, Schäfer, Hasebe (Ziani 73), Josué, Misimović, Gentner, Džeko, Grafite (Martins 82).

• Džeko struck again in the return on 8 December but Michael Owen scored a hat-trick as group winners United prevailed 3-1 to consign the Bundesliga side to third place in the section.

Manchester United
• United are unbeaten in their last six home fixtures in UEFA competition (five wins, one draw), including the 3-1 success against Club Brugge KV in August's play-off round.

• When United last hosted a German team at Old Trafford – Bayern in the 2013/14 quarter-finals – Bastian Schweinsteiger hit the visitors' goal in a 1-1 draw. United had begun that campaign with a 4-2 win over Bayer 04 Leverkusen in which Wayne Rooney (two) and Antonio Valencia found the net.

• Their overall home record against sides from Germany is W8 D4 L2.

• This is the first time United have entered their second game of a UEFA Champions League campaign without a point since 1996/97, when they started with a 1-0 loss at Juventus.

Wolfsburg
• Wolfsburg's only defeat in six away matches in the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League was in the north-west of England – a 4-1 reverse at Everton FC on 18 September 2014. Ricardo Rodriguez got the Wolfsburg goal.

• Wolfsburg have scored on all three of their previous visits to England but lost every time.

• Diego Benaglio and Marcel Schäfer played in Wolfsburg's first meeting with a Premier League club – a 3-2 home triumph over Portsmouth FC in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup group stage.

Coach and player links
• As coach of FC Bayern München (2009–11), Louis van Gaal was unbeaten in four encounters with Wolfsburg, winning three of them.

• As FC Barcelona coach, Van Gaal lifted the UEFA Super Cup against Borussia Dortmund (aggregate 3-1) in 1998. His overall record against German teams in UEFA competition is W10 D4 L4 (W7 D1 L0 with Ajax).

• As a player, Van Gaal's final appearance in UEFA competition was a 5-1 defeat at VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach with Sparta Rotterdam. That last campaign came in the 1985/86 UEFA Cup and comprised a penalty shoot-out win over Hamburger SV in the first round before a 6-2 aggregate loss to Mönchengladbach.

• Dante played in Bayern's 3-1 quarter-final second-leg victory over United in 2013/14.

• Julian Draxler was in the FC Schalke 04 side beaten by United (0-2 h, 1-4 a) in the 2010/11 UEFA Champions League semi-finals.

• As a Bayern player (2002–15), Schweinsteiger made 23 outings against Wolfsburg and scored six goals (W16 D3 L4).

• Rooney netted his record 50th England goal on 8 September against a Switzerland team including Timm Klose and Rodriguez.

• With Portugal, Vieirinha beat Matteo Darmian's Italy 1-0 in June but suffered a 1-0 friendly reverse against Morgan Schneiderlin's France in September.

• Sergio Romero and Marcos Rojo were in the Argentina side beaten in the 2014 FIFA World Cup final by a Germany team featuring André Schürrle.

• With Arsenal FC and Sunderland AFC, Bendtner did not score in ten appearances against United (W1 D1 L8). His record at Old Trafford was W0 D1 L6.

• Schürrle visited Old Trafford twice with Chelsea FC, drawing both matches.

• Players who have played together:
Schweinsteiger & Dante (Bayern 2012–15)
Schweinsteiger & Luiz Gustavo (Bayern 2011–13)
Schweinsteiger & Schürrle, Kruse, Draxler, Schäfer (Germany)
Anthony Martial, Schneiderlin & Josuha Guilavogui (France)
Daley Blind, Memphis Depay & Bas Dost (Netherlands)

Match facts

Manchester United
• Martial has scored four goals in five games for United, including a double in the Red Devils' 3-2 success at Southampton FC on 20 September.

• Andreas Pereira opened his goalscoring account for United with a free-kick against Ipswich Town FC in a 3-0 League Cup third round victory on 23 September. It was his first senior start for the club.

• Luke Shaw sustained a double fracture to his right leg in a tackle by PSV's Héctor Moreno on matchday one.

• Rooney scored his first Premier League goal since 4 April in Saturday's 3-0 home win against Sunderland AFC.

• Rojo (hamstring) missed the Sunderland match.

Wolfsburg
• Bayern condemned Wolfsburg to their first defeat in 15 games in all competitions when they recovered from 1-0 down to win 5-1 on 22 September. Robert Lewandowski scored all of Bayern's goals in the space of eight minutes and 59 seconds during the second half.

• Benaglio, who on 12 September made his first-team return after missing Wolfsburg's first five fixtures this season with a back injury, had kept three successive clean sheets until the Bayern match.

• Luiz Gustavo missed Saturday's 1-1 draw against Hannover 96 due to a knee problem; Robin Knoche was ruled out for four weeks after suffering an ankle injury on 18 September.

• Wolfsburg are 26 league games unbeaten at home (19 wins, seven draws) since a 6-1 loss to Bayern on 8 March 2014.

• Bendtner has scored eight goals for Wolfsburg since joining the club in summer 2014 – all have come as a substitute.

• Vieirinha (thigh) and Koen Casteels (toe) have sat out the Wolves' last five matches.