Gent’s Cinderella story continues. The Belgian champions defied the odds in order to become the first Belgian team in 15 years to reach the Champions League knockout phase. They will now look to take a big step toward a quarterfinal berth as they host Wolfsburg on Wednesday.
The German club was last seen knocking mighty Manchester United out of the competition. Can they go halfway toward ending Gent’s fairy tale run in Belgium?
Get a full breakdown of this first leg matchup with our preview below. And for more of Wednesday’s Champions League action, have a look at our preview of Roma vs. Real Madrid.
Gent is hands down the most surprising team to make the Champions league knockout phase this year. The Belgians were making their very first appearance in the Champions League group stage, and had no discernible standout talents anywhere on their squad.
However, credit them for taking advantage of their opportunity in Group H. Gent won their last three group games against the wildly disappointing Valencia and Lyon, as well as group winners Zenit (who had already rested their stars) to punch their ticket through to the last 16.
Gent are essentially playing with house money at this point. No one expected them to get this far, so they should be able to play with hardly any pressure.
But they also aren’t the type of team that will throw caution to the wind, so look for them to play primarily on the back foot even at home, and hope the likes of Danijel Milisevic can produce a bit of magic. Milisevic scored three times during the group stage, the only Gent player with more than one goal.
Gent will bring into the first leg the terrific form they’ve played with since ending the Champions League group stage on a high. They’ve won six of their last eight league games, with their only two losses coming away from home. Gent are a combined 11-4-1 at home in the league and Champions League this season.
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Betting on Wolfsburg
Wolfsburg only needed a draw in their final group game against Manchester United to secure their spot in the Round of 16. But they did one better, as they defeated the English giants 3-2 on home turf to top Group A with four wins and two losses.
Despite the terrific achievement of making the knockout phase, manager Dieter Hecking’s side hasn’t exactly discovered the type of form that saw the team finish runners-up to Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga last season. The departure of superstar playmaker Kevin De Bruyne to Manchester City has had a lot to do with that drop-off.
Wolfsburg have an absolutely horrendous away record this season. They have won just twice in 13 total Bundesliga and Champions League games away from home (2-3-8), with just nine goals scored. Three of those away losses have come in their last six league games.
That poor record probably won’t dissuade Hecking from setting his side up aggressively in search of an away goal, though. With German wunderkind Julian Draxler, Andre Schurrle and Max Kruse, Wolfsburg have the superior attacking talents that can help unlock the Gent defense.
Draxler in particular has been in terrific form lately. He has scored twice in his last three games, including one against Ingolstadt over the weekend to help give Wolfsburg their first win since that United triumph.
Writer’s Prediction
Wolfsburg takes a crucial away goal back home as they draw 1-1 (+200) at Gent.
