First Team

Another win

Efficient Wolves claim a 3-0 victory away to Mainz 05.

VfL Wolfsburg registered their first back-to-back wins and their second away success of the season on Saturday afternoon, beating 1. FSV Mainz 05 3-0. Patrick Wimmer’s first goal for VfL opened the scoring (33’), with Maximilian Arnold (70’) and Ridle Baku (83’) wrapping up the three points for Niko Kovac’s side in the second half in front of 26,750 spectators at the Mewa Arena.

The result sees the Wolves climb to 11th place in the table for the time being. They’re back in action on Tuesday 8 November (kick-off 18:30 CET) in their last home match before the World Cup break, with Borussia Dortmund the visitors at the Volkswagen Arena.

Goals

  • 0-1 Wimmer (33’): From a corner kick, the ball comes to Wimmer, who turns and shoots into the far corner to make it 1-0 to the Green-and-Whites.
     
  • 0-2 Arnold (70’): The VfL captain measures up a free-kick from 30 metres out and curls the ball into the net past the helpless Robin Zentner.
     
  • 0-3 Baku (83’): A perfectly executed counter-attack puts the game to bed. Jonas Wind supplies Baku, who finishes confidently one-on-one against his former club.

Reaction

Niko Kovac: “I want to congratulate my team, even if the final score is certainly flattering. Thankfully we got the first goal through a set piece. Our game management was good in the second half and we didn’t give them any chances. The team played much better in that half. It’s good to start a week with three matches with a win. Now we obviously want to be successful in our next two games, too.”

Bo Svensson: “I think we played very well in the first half. We went into the break 1-0 down, but that didn’t reflect the balance of the game. But goals are what count at the end of the day. We kept going in the second half but we weren’t able to create enough chances in the final third. We were lacking the necessary precision today. The second goal killed the game off. Wolfsburg were very clinical and we weren’t.”

Line-ups and stats

1. FSV Mainz 05: Zentner – Fernandes, Hack, Caci (78‘ Fulgini) – Widmer (71‘ da Costa), Stach (78‘ Burgzorg), Kohr, Aaron, Invartsen (71‘ Burkardt), Lee – Onisiwo

Subs: Dahmen (GK), Bell, Tauer, Barkok, Barreiro

VfL Wolfsburg: Casteels – Baku, Bornauw, van de Ven, Otavio (88’ Roussillon) – Arnold, Gerhardt – Wimmer (76‘. Fischer), F. Nmecha (65‘ Svanberg), Kaminski (88‘ Marmoush) – L. Nmecha (65‘ Wind)

Subs: Pervan (GK), Lacroix, Brekalo, Waldschmidt

Goals: 0:1 Wimmer (33‘), 0:2 Arnold (70‘), 0:3 Baku (83‘)

Yellow Cards: Stach / Baku

Referee: Daniel Siebert (Berlin)

Attendance: 26,750 at Mewa-Arena