VfL Wolfsburg striker Max Kruse is experiencing a wild ride at the moment. On Wednesday night he fulfilled one of his lifelong dreams when he went up against Bastian Schweinsteiger's Manchester United at Old Trafford in the Champions League. He provided a brilliant assist for Daniel Caligiuri's opener, but was unable to prevent the Premier League club from overturning the deficit to clinch a 2-1 home victory. It was Kruse's second appearance in Europe's elite club football competition and one he had been anticipating even before the draw was made. "I hope that we get an exciting opponent in our group," he had told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) prior to the start of the season.
The next highlight is approaching fast as Wolfsburg take on Max Kruse's former club Borussia Mönchengladbach today (15:30 CEST). The Germany international left the Foals during the summer and it appeared to have an immediate impact on Gladbach's performance, who struggled without Kruse and got off to a poor start this season, with five straight defeats in the league.
Five clubs in six years
Kruse justified his decision to make the move with the following statement: "I simply needed a new input and I wanted to achieve something, to win titles and I felt that Wolfsburg had better perspectives for this." You can't argue with his reasoning, as Wolfsburg have seemingly coped well with the departure of their star player Kevin de Bruyne. And with fellow new signing Julian Draxler and André Schürrle, Kruse forms a trio of DFB Team players at the Wolves. The situation for Wolfsburg is by no means perfect yet, as they trail FC Bayern, Dortmund and Schalke in the standings but they have also not yet lost sight of achieving their goals. Their recent 5-1 defeat in Munich and a 1-1 draw at home to Hannover 96 have mounted the pressure on last year's DFB Cup champions ahead of their meeting with Gladbach.
Obviously the game against his former club will be special for Kruse, although it's not necessarily an unfamiliar situation for the forward. Considering that he is a late bloomer in the sport, his rapid rise in the ranks has been quite astonishing. In six years he has played for five different clubs, making games against his former employer a regular occurence for Kruse. Still, there is a sense that this will not be a normal encounter for 13-time Germany international. "I had a great time in Gladbach, because we played an excellent season," he said.
Kruse hopes to emulate his success at Wolfsburg and the next step to achieving this would be a good performance against his former team mates from Borussia Mönchengladbach.
VfL Wolfsburg striker Max Kruse is experiencing a wild ride at the moment. On Wednesday night he fulfilled one of his lifelong dreams when he went up against Bastian Schweinsteiger's Manchester United at Old Trafford in the Champions League. He provided a brilliant assist for Daniel Caligiuri's opener, but was unable to prevent the Premier League club from overturning the deficit to clinch a 2-1 home victory. It was Kruse's second appearance in Europe's elite club football competition and one he had been anticipating even before the draw was made. "I hope that we get an exciting opponent in our group," he had told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) prior to the start of the season.
The next highlight is approaching fast as Wolfsburg take on Max Kruse's former club Borussia Mönchengladbach today (15:30 CEST). The Germany international left the Foals during the summer and it appeared to have an immediate impact on Gladbach's performance, who struggled without Kruse and got off to a poor start this season, with five straight defeats in the league.
Five clubs in six years
Kruse justified his decision to make the move with the following statement: "I simply needed a new input and I wanted to achieve something, to win titles and I felt that Wolfsburg had better perspectives for this." You can't argue with his reasoning, as Wolfsburg have seemingly coped well with the departure of their star player Kevin de Bruyne. And with fellow new signing Julian Draxler and André Schürrle, Kruse forms a trio of DFB Team players at the Wolves. The situation for Wolfsburg is by no means perfect yet, as they trail FC Bayern, Dortmund and Schalke in the standings but they have also not yet lost sight of achieving their goals. Their recent 5-1 defeat in Munich and a 1-1 draw at home to Hannover 96 have mounted the pressure on last year's DFB Cup champions ahead of their meeting with Gladbach.
Obviously the game against his former club will be special for Kruse, although it's not necessarily an unfamiliar situation for the forward. Considering that he is a late bloomer in the sport, his rapid rise in the ranks has been quite astonishing. In six years he has played for five different clubs, making games against his former employer a regular occurence for Kruse. Still, there is a sense that this will not be a normal encounter for 13-time Germany international. "I had a great time in Gladbach, because we played an excellent season," he said.
Kruse hopes to emulate his success at Wolfsburg and the next step to achieving this would be a good performance against his former team mates from Borussia Mönchengladbach.
