Illness, injury threaten Wolfsburg's dozen as Bayern loom

Wolfsburg have been decimated by illness and injury with a dozen players struggling ahead of Saturday's visit of runaway Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich.

A flu virus has laid low new signing Bruno Henrique, out-of-favour striker Nicklas Bendtner and goalkeeper Koen Casteels, while Germany winger Andre Schuerrle has not trained for the last ten days with a hamstring injury.

Other players on the injured list include defender Sebastian Jung, who has a torn cruciate knee ligament, and goalkeeper Diego Benaglio, who has a rib injury.

With first-choice Benaglio and his stand-in Casteels ruled out, Wolfsburg coach Dieter Hecking could be forced to pit third-choice goalkeeper Max Gruen against Bayern's hot-shot strikers Robert Lewandowski and Thomas Mueller. 

It is hardly the ideal starting point to welcome the Bundesliga leaders, who are 28 points ahead of eighth-placed Wolfsburg in the table.

"The staffing situation is bad," said Hecking.

Hecking hopes to have some of his players back before they host Gent in the last 16, second-leg of the Champions League in ten days having won the away tie 3-2 in Belgium.

Despite his side's ailments, Hecking wants to go on the attack against the Bavarians and Wolfsburg routed Pep Guardiola's Bayern 4-1 on their last visit to the Volkswagen Arena in January 2015.

"We have to concentrate on our strengths and attack Bayern, not just go chasing after them," said Hecking.

The Wolves boss has plenty of respect for Germany's top side, who are chasing the treble of Champions League, Bundesliga and German Cup titles, ahead of Guardiola's impending departure to Manchester City at the end of the season.

The last time the teams met, Wolfsburg led 1-0 at Munich's Allianz Arena before Lewandowski came off Bayern's bench to score five goals in nine second-half minutes as Hecking's side were routed 5-1 last September.

"I haven't forgotten. I hope that was a one-off," said Hecking with a frown.]