Realistically, Manchester United need to go to Wolfsburg and win if they want to stay in the Champions League.
Louis van Gaal’s team are a point behind their German opponents and one clear of PSV Eindhoven going into the final round of group games.
But PSV are at home to a CSKA Moscow side that has lost seven of its last eight away games in the competition – the only exception being a 2-1 win at nine-man Manchester City last season.
United will be clinging to any positive omen they can – and Van Gaal’s record against Wolfsburg certainly falls into that category.
Van Gaal faced the club – then managed by Steve McClaren, among others – four times during two seasons in charge of Bayern Munich.
And Bayern won three of the four, including a 3-0 victory just four games into Van Gaal’s reign and a 3-1 win at the Volkswagen Arena.
Coincidentally, that same period saw Wolfsburg take on Manchester United in the Champions League group stage, and like this year the final group game was a meeting between the two teams in Germany.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s men won on that occasion – with Michael Owen scoring a hat-trick in a 3-1 victory – to top a group which also contained CSKA.
