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WOLFSBURG, GERMANY - DECEMBER 05: Josuha Guilavogui (L) of Wolfsburg and Lukasz Piszczek (R) of Dortmund compete for the ball during the First Bundesliga match at between VfL Wolfsburg and Borussia Dortmund at Volkswagen Arena on December 5, 2015 in Wolfsburg, Germany.  (Photo by Oliver Hardt/Getty Images For MAN)
WOLFSBURG, GERMANY - DECEMBER 05: Josuha Guilavogui (L) of Wolfsburg and Lukasz Piszczek (R) of Dortmund compete for the ball during the First Bundesliga match at between VfL Wolfsburg and Borussia Dortmund at Volkswagen Arena on December 5, 2015 in Wolfsburg, Germany. (Photo by Oliver Hardt/Getty Images For MAN)Oliver Hardt/Getty Images

Borussia Dortmund vs. Wolfsburg: Team News, Preview, Live Stream, TV Info

Lars PollmannApr 29, 2016

Borussia Dortmund host Wolfsburg on Matchday 32 of the 2015/16 Bundesliga season on Saturday.

Since the hosts have long clinched a second-place finish and the Wolves only have an outside chance at playing in Europe next season—they're six points behind seventh place, currently held by Schalke, which will be enough to qualify for the UEFA Europa League qualifiers this season, because Bayern Munich and Dortmund play each other in the DFB-Pokal final—the intrigue of this meeting has to come from somewhere other than the league table.

Sure enough, it was a busy week for the Black and Yellows, who announced on their website on Thursday that team captain Mats Hummels has officially requested a transfer to Bayern. Saturday's match will offer fans a first opportunity to let their feelings be known.

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As for Wolfsburg, a thoroughly disappointing season is coming to a close. Despite reaching the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League and playing Real Madrid tough, the Wolves can't be happy with their campaign. As Bundesliga runners-up last year and winners of the cup—beating Dortmund in the final—expectations for this campaign were high but never met.

Head coach Dieter Hecking could be fighting for his job in the last few matches and tried to rally the troops in his press conference on Thursday:

Dortmund won the first meeting in November in dramatic fashion thanks to a last-minute winner from Shinji Kagawa, but they haven't performed the double over Wolfsburg since the 2011/12 season.

Date: Saturday, April 30

Time: 2:30 p.m. BST/9:30 a.m. ET/3:30 p.m. local time

Venue: Signal Iduna Park, Dortmund

TV Info: Gol TV USA (U.S. only, on tape delay)

Live Stream: Fox Soccer 2Go (U.S. only)

Form Guide

DortmundWolfsburg
Schalke: Draw (2-2)Madrid: Win (2-0)
Liverpool: Loss (4-3)Mainz: Draw (1-1)
Hamburg: Win (3-0)Madrid: Loss (3-0)
Hertha: Win (3-0)Bremen: Loss (3-2)
Stuttgart: Win (3-0)Augsburg: Loss (2-0)

Predicted Lineups

Dortmund

Since Ilkay Gundogan and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang returned to team training during the week, per press agency DPA (via magazine Reviersport, link in German), centre-back Neven Subotic and full-back Joo-ho Park are set to be the only absentees because of injury.

Dortmund and Wolfsburg players react at the final whistle during the German first division Bundesliga football match Wolfsburg vs Dortmund in Wolfsburg on December 5, 2015.  
AFP PHOTO / ODD ANDERSEN
RESTRICTIONS: DURING MATCH TIME: DFL RULES TO LIMIT THE

It seems unlikely that either Gundogan or Aubameyang will return to the starting XI right away, as head coach Thomas Tuchel will take no risks in a relatively meaningless game. Gonzalo Castro and Adrian Ramos should play in their stead.

Other than that, the big question is whether Hummels will play. Matthias Ginter performed well in the captain's place against Stuttgart and could get another look at centre-back.

Predicted Starting XI: Burki; Piszczek, Bender, Hummels, Schmelzer; Castro, Weigl, Kagawa; Mkhitaryan, Ramos, Reus.

Wolfsburg

Dortmund's Swiss goalkeeper Roman Burki (L) fails to save a penalty kick from Wolfsburg's Swiss defender Ricardo Rodriguez during the German first division Bundesliga football match Wolfsburg vs Dortmund in Wolfsburg on December 5, 2015.  
AFP PHOTO / ODD

Midfielder Julian Draxler remains out with a muscle injury, while fellow Germany international Andre Schurrle returns from a suspension. Portuguese utility man Vieirinha returned to team training during the week, per the club on Twitter, while left-back Ricardo Rodriguez had to abandon the session on Thursday with back problems.

If the Switzerland international can't go, Marcel Schafer should slide in at left-back. 

Predicted Starting XI: Benaglio; Trasch, Naldo, Dante, Rodriguez; Guilavogui, Luiz Gustavo; Vieirinha, Arnold, Schurrle; Dost.

Players to Watch

Unless Tuchel keeps him out to protect him from the Westfalenstadion's reaction to Thursday's news, all eyes will be on Hummels. It'll be interesting to see how he handles the expected hostile atmosphere towards him, especially with the cup final against his future club on May 21 looming large.

Could head coach Thomas Tuchel keep Mats Hummels out of the lineup against Wolfsburg?

The 27-year-old should be experienced enough to block out any noise, but, seeing as the game doesn't matter much in the grand scheme of things, it'd be natural if he made a mistake under pressure.

As for Wolfsburg, Schurrle has been one of the few players to show any sort of consistency in recent weeks. The 25-year-old has scored only six league goals this season, but five of them have come since the start of March. In the absence of Draxler—who has been easily the Wolves' best player this season—the onus will be on Schurrle, whom Tuchel coached at Mainz, to produce the goods.

Key Battle

Dortmund's Unbeaten Run at Home vs. Wolfsburg's Rotten Away Record

On paper, the Black and Yellows are heavy favourites to beat Wolfsburg comfortably. They lost their last Bundesliga match at home last year on April 4 against Bayern, winning all but two of their next 19:

Wolfsburg, on the other hand, are the second-worst away side in the league, winning a laughable 10 points from 15 away trips, scoring only 13 goals in the process. Only relegation battlers Eintracht Frankfurt have even worse numbers.

The Wolves famously conceded five goals in a span of nine minutes from a subbed-on Robert Lewandowski at Bayern earlier in the season, but they led the game at half-time. Having looked far better in the Champions League than the Bundesliga this season, Wolfsburg seem to be more motivated against notable opposition.

If Dortmund enter the game with a wrong mindset or let the transfer-rumour sideshow take over, Wolfsburg could pull off an upset.

Odds (via Odds Shark)

Dortmund: 25-41

Draw: 14-5

Wolfsburg: 467-100

Lars Pollmann is a Featured Columnist writing on Borussia Dortmund. He also writes for YellowWallPod.com. You can follow him on Twitter.

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