Live Bundesliga Soccer on FOX Continues Saturday with Wolfsburg in Action After Shocking Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League
Following a stunning 2-0 victory over European giants Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League first-leg quarterfinals this week, Wolfsburg takes the field again this Saturday, April 9 for exciting Bundesliga action against Mainz in a heated battle on the FOX broadcast network. Pregame coverage begins at 12:00 PM ET, with kickoff at 12:30 PM ET.
FOX Sports continues its live Bundesliga coverage this weekend with a handful of matches on FS1, FS2 and FOX Deportes. All televised matches are also available via live stream on FOX Sports GO, FOX Soccer 2Go and FOXSportsGO.com. The second and final legs of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinals resume next Tuesday, April 12, with the Real Madrid-Wolfsburg rematch set to take place at 2:00 PM ET on FS2. Please visit FOX Sports Press Pass for the complete schedule.
Bundesliga veterans in their playing days, Ian Joy hosts studio coverage alongside retired star German defender Thomas Hitzlsperger and former Borussia Dortmund forward Jovan Kirovski. FOX Sports’ play-by-play announcer John Strong and Stu Holden call the match. Strong and Holden share their thoughts on Saturday’s matchup:
Strong: “There are big European stakes on this match. It’s been a crazy Bundesliga season and will continue to be. You can see that with how unpredictable and entertaining the games on FOX have been, especially last week’s unexpected back-and-forth between title-chasing Borussia Dortmund and Werder Bremen.
Wolfsburg winning their UEFA Champions League first-leg quarterfinal against Real Madrid makes things really interesting. Saturday’s game is crucial for Wolfsburg if they want to qualify for Europe next season, unless they win the Champions League of course. Wolfsburg also has Luis Gustavo, who will presumably be part of Brazil’s squad at the Copa America Centenario. Mainz, on the other hand, is battling Bayer Leverkusen for fifth place, which is an automatic spot in the UEFA Europa League group stage. If they can pull it off, it would be second time they’ve qualified for a UEFA tournament proper (not just qualifiers) in their entire history.”
Holden: “Wolfsburg are certainly an underachieving team this year, but they have some tremendous talent, especially going forward. Summer signing Julian Draxler, who came over in a big money move from Schalke, has shown fans some glimpses recently of why they paid so much money for him. World Cup winner and Wolfsburg striker, Andre Schurrle, will be up against a Mainz defense that has been very well organized this season.
With Mainz having an excellent season so far and sitting 6 points ahead of Wolfsburg in the table, there will be huge incentive for Wolfsburg to get a result at home to close the gap. Wolfsburg had an excellent performance on Wednesday, shocking heavy favorites Real Madrid, and showed the rest of the Champions League field that they mean business in the competition.”