VfL Wolfsburg won their last home game against Borussia Dortmund 2-0 in the Bundesliga preseason, but that was the Wolves’ only competitive win against BVB in the 17 duels since the 3-1 win in the 2015 DFB Cup final against the black and yellow (plus 1D 15N).
VfL Wolfsburg have been without a win in six Bundesliga games (D4 L2) – the first time that long under Niko Kovac. This meant that for the first time since 2010, the Wolves remained winless in the first five Bundesliga games of a calendar year (D4 L1); only in 1998 did VfL remain winless for longer at the start of the year in the upper house (the first seven games).
Borussia Dortmund scored 13 points in the Bundesliga in the 2024 calendar year, as many as only Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Since the turn of the year, BVB has had both the best offense (13 goals) and the best defense (one goal conceded, 4 clean sheets) in the Bundesliga. In the last eight BL games before the winter break, Dortmund had only won once and were always without a clean sheet.
VfL Wolfsburg got 23 points from its first 21 games of the season in the Bundesliga, as few as the last time in the 2016/17 season, when they only managed to stay in the league through relegation (22 at that time – shared negative club record). VfL lost 10 games this BL season, compared to 11 in the entire previous season.
Borussia Dortmund have not conceded a goal in three Bundesliga away games and can now equal the club record of four clean sheets in a row away from home from 1994 (the last three were in January/February 2023). However, in the last BL guest game in Heidenheim, BVB remained goalless away from home in the BL for the first time since November 2022 (0-2 at VfL Wolfsburg).
Only Bayer 04 Leverkusen allowed fewer expected goals against in the Bundesliga in the 2024 calendar year (3.5 xGa) than VfL Wolfsburg (4.3) and Borussia Dortmund (4.4). BVB also earned 12.1 xG during this period, the most in the league and almost twice as many as Wolves (6.2 xG).
VfL Wolfsburg only scored eight goals in the second half this Bundesliga season, including only one in the final quarter of an hour, which is a league low. Borussia Dortmund have already scored 12 goals in the last 15 minutes of the game (5 in 2024 – league top), only FC Bayern have scored more (13).
Borussia Dortmund got 12 points from behind this Bundesliga season, only FC Augsburg have more (17). VfL Wolfsburg, on the other hand, gave up 15 points after taking the lead – the third most in the league (Cologne 16, Gladbach 23).
Borussia Dortmund’s Donyell Malen scored his second brace last matchday in the fourth game of the current Bundesliga second half of the season; he had only scored twice in his 69 previous BL games. With nine BL goals this season, he has already equaled his personal best from the previous season.
Borussia Dortmund’s Niclas Füllkrug has been directly involved in seven goals in the Bundesliga since the start of the second half of the season (5D 2V), which, together with Deniz Undav, is the league’s best in this period. Since then, Füllkrug has also scored the most expected goals (3.9 xG) and has already equaled his tally from the entire first half of the season with five goals in the second half of the season (in 17 appearances).