First Team

Vital home win

The Wolves gave themselves further breathing space with a 1-0 victory at home to Union Berlin.

Die Spieler des VFL Wolfsburg bejubeln ein Tor.

VfL Wolfsburg recorded their ninth Bundesliga win of the season on Matchday 25. Head coach Florian Kohfeldt’s men beat 1. FC Union Berlin 1-0 on Saturday afternoon thanks to a spirited defensive display, with an own goal from Union’s Taiwo Awoniyi (24’) settling the contest in front of a crowd of 15,703 at the Volkswagen Arena.

The win keeps the Wolves in 12th place in the table. Next up for VfL is a trip to SC Freiburg on Saturday 12 March (kick-off 15:30 CET).

Goals

  • 1-0 Awoniyi (24th minute, own goal): Having already prevented his side from going behind a number of times, Union goalkeeper Andreas Luthe is powerless as his own teammate heads in Max Arnold’s fizzing corner from close range. There may have been luck in how it came about, but it’s a fully deserved lead for VfL.

Other

Using the slogan #StopWar, VfL Wolfsburg dedicated the entire matchday weekend to express various gestures of solidarity with the people in Ukraine. Among other things, the Green-and-Whites had organised collections of money and item donations. In addition, the Wolves players – as the women’s team will in Sunday’s match against Freiburg – wore a peace symbol on their jerseys instead of the Volkswagen logo.

Eine Grafik mit dem Peace-Symbol und dem Hastag Stopwar.

Coaches’ reaction

Florian Kohfeldt: “I think we were better in the first half. We didn’t actually score the goal ourselves but we created other chances. Union were much the better team after the break. We had two opportunities on the counter, but Union played very well and we allowed them to get shots away. On the basis of the second half, it’s certainly a fortunate home win because we could just as easily have drawn. But I feel our body language has changed now. I’m sure we wouldn’t have won this game a few weeks ago.”

Urs Fischer: “We needed a short while to find our footing in the game, and we got lucky with the shot that hit the post at the start. But then we improved as the match wore on and the team increasingly got into the game. We were very dominant in the second half and had enough chances to score a goal. What should I say? We didn’t do so, and we also got Wolfsburg’s goal for them. I’d describe it as just one of those afternoons. Despite all that, my team played very well. It’s just a shame we didn’t get anything to show for it.”

Line-ups and stats

VfL Wolfsburg: Casteels – Mbabu, Bornauw, Brooks, Roussillon – Arnold – Baku (76' Steffen), Kruse (86' Gerhardt), Schlager (64' Vranckx) – Wind, Bialek (64' L. Nmecha)

Subs: Pervan (GK), F. Nmecha, Philipp, Lukebakio, Waldschmidt

Union Berlin: Luthe – Heintz (82' Öztunali), Knoche, Baumgartl – Ryerson, Khedira (82' Ujah), Oczipka, Haraguchi (64' Möhwald), Prömel – Becker (71' Voglsammer), Awoniyi (71. Michel)

Subs: Rönnow (GK), Gießelmann, Jaeckel, Trimmel

Goal: 1-0 Awoniyi (24', own goal)

Yellow cards: – / Möhwald

Referee: Patrick Ittrich (Hamburg)

Attendance: 15,703 at Volkswagen Arena 

First Team

Vital home win

The Wolves gave themselves further breathing space with a 1-0 victory at home to Union Berlin.

Die Spieler des VFL Wolfsburg bejubeln ein Tor.

VfL Wolfsburg recorded their ninth Bundesliga win of the season on Matchday 25. Head coach Florian Kohfeldt’s men beat 1. FC Union Berlin 1-0 on Saturday afternoon thanks to a spirited defensive display, with an own goal from Union’s Taiwo Awoniyi (24’) settling the contest in front of a crowd of 15,703 at the Volkswagen Arena.

The win keeps the Wolves in 12th place in the table. Next up for VfL is a trip to SC Freiburg on Saturday 12 March (kick-off 15:30 CET).

Goals

  • 1-0 Awoniyi (24th minute, own goal): Having already prevented his side from going behind a number of times, Union goalkeeper Andreas Luthe is powerless as his own teammate heads in Max Arnold’s fizzing corner from close range. There may have been luck in how it came about, but it’s a fully deserved lead for VfL.

Other

Using the slogan #StopWar, VfL Wolfsburg dedicated the entire matchday weekend to express various gestures of solidarity with the people in Ukraine. Among other things, the Green-and-Whites had organised collections of money and item donations. In addition, the Wolves players – as the women’s team will in Sunday’s match against Freiburg – wore a peace symbol on their jerseys instead of the Volkswagen logo.

Eine Grafik mit dem Peace-Symbol und dem Hastag Stopwar.

Coaches’ reaction

Florian Kohfeldt: “I think we were better in the first half. We didn’t actually score the goal ourselves but we created other chances. Union were much the better team after the break. We had two opportunities on the counter, but Union played very well and we allowed them to get shots away. On the basis of the second half, it’s certainly a fortunate home win because we could just as easily have drawn. But I feel our body language has changed now. I’m sure we wouldn’t have won this game a few weeks ago.”

Urs Fischer: “We needed a short while to find our footing in the game, and we got lucky with the shot that hit the post at the start. But then we improved as the match wore on and the team increasingly got into the game. We were very dominant in the second half and had enough chances to score a goal. What should I say? We didn’t do so, and we also got Wolfsburg’s goal for them. I’d describe it as just one of those afternoons. Despite all that, my team played very well. It’s just a shame we didn’t get anything to show for it.”

Line-ups and stats

VfL Wolfsburg: Casteels – Mbabu, Bornauw, Brooks, Roussillon – Arnold – Baku (76' Steffen), Kruse (86' Gerhardt), Schlager (64' Vranckx) – Wind, Bialek (64' L. Nmecha)

Subs: Pervan (GK), F. Nmecha, Philipp, Lukebakio, Waldschmidt

Union Berlin: Luthe – Heintz (82' Öztunali), Knoche, Baumgartl – Ryerson, Khedira (82' Ujah), Oczipka, Haraguchi (64' Möhwald), Prömel – Becker (71' Voglsammer), Awoniyi (71. Michel)

Subs: Rönnow (GK), Gießelmann, Jaeckel, Trimmel

Goal: 1-0 Awoniyi (24', own goal)

Yellow cards: – / Möhwald

Referee: Patrick Ittrich (Hamburg)

Attendance: 15,703 at Volkswagen Arena