The Volkswagen Arena is a cosy 30,000-seater stadium that punches above its weight, a roof protects the fans from the rain but that won't be necessary as summer arrived in the city on Monday, temperatures reaching 22 degrees.

The visit of Real Madrid is a tonic for the wolfsburguers in a city built around a company mired in a scandal that shocked the world, but fans are revelling in their presence at this advanced stage of the Champions League, and the party has already started: a party that sees one of the best teams in the world rock up with 11,000 litres of beer chilling patiently, ready to be served in the stadium on Wednesday evening.

Historic

This is a historic occasion for the city. Not one single ticket came up on general sale, with prices between 40-80 euros, tickets which sold out weeks ago.

This is the most important game in the stadium's history, comparable to the visit of Pelé's Santos to Wolfsburgo at the Stadion am Elsterweg on June 3 1961. That stadium is just 1km from the current ground which was opened in 2002 at a cost of €63M, 45% paid for by City Hall and the other 55% paid for by Volkswagen.

Pelé's Santos visit WolfsburgVeteran Wolfsburg fans still talk about the time Santos came to town with Pelé, Pepe, Coutinho and Tite and the Brazilians put on a show for the locals winning 6-3. The game was part of Santos' European tour and they left a huge impression on the German city, as will Real Madrid on Wednesday evening. DIARIO AS (DIARIO AS)

The dimensions of the pitch are 105x68 and the bench won't need any warming due to the built-in heating in the seats, which is available in the entire stadium, served by an amazing 52 kilometres of heating pipes. Football fans will be in their element.

Madridistadas

The blanco support will number about 1,100, fans coming from Spain and from the various peñas or supporters' clubs from across the old continent. Hotel Tryp will be base camp for the madridistas because that is where the match tickets and anti-ultra wrist bands will be handed out.

This is the fifth consecutive season that the club blanco and its followers will land on German soil for a Champions League battle, and only 200 tickets from Madrid's ticket allocation has been returned.

'Alles in ordenung' for the Champions League quarter-final first leg between Wolfsburg and Real Madrid.