VfL Wolfsburg were beaten in their first home match under new head coach Ralph Hasenhüttl on Sunday evening, losing 3-1 to Borussia Mönchengladbach in front of 26,105 fans at the Volkswagen Arena. Ridle Baku gave the Wolves an early lead after just seven minutes, but Ko Itakura’s equaliser against the run of play (53’) swung the game back in the visitors’ favour. Nathan Ngoumou put the Foals ahead five minutes later before Rocco Reitz completed the scoring two minutes from time, leaving VfL in 14th place in the table.
Hasenhüttl’s men return to action at 15:30 CEST on Saturday 13 April, when they visit RB Leipzig.
Goals
- 1-0 Baku (7’): Tiago Tomas battles his way into the penalty area via the right flank and shows great vision to pick out Baku on the edge of the penalty area. The 25-year-old finds the bottom right corner from 12 yards.
- 1-1 Itakura (53’): A frustrating goal to concede. Itakura appears unmarked on the edge of the box and fires Gladbach level with a shot that takes a wicked deflection off Moritz Jenz on its way past Pavao Pervan.
- 1-2 Ngoumou (58’): Buoyed by their equaliser, Gladbach complete the turnaround five minutes later. Franck Honorat feeds Ngoumou, who creates space for the shot with a clever dummy and fires low past Pervan.
- 1-3 Reitz (88’): The Wolves give away possession as they push for an equaliser and the visitors take full advantage. The ball somehow finds its way to substitute Reitz, who finds the corner.
The coaches’ reaction
Ralph Hasenhüttl: “Gladbach deserved to win the game. In the second half we were a long way off the standards we set in the first half. The equaliser may have been fortunate, but we should have defended better under the circumstances. We completely forgot about the basics after that, which is very disappointing. Our substitutions today didn’t inject any freshness or make us more compact either. We made it easy for the opposition. You could tell we still have a lot of work to do, but that’s not surprising. At times we showed glimpses of where we want to be, but you have to be able to hold your own for two thirds of the game or, if possible, the entire match. Otherwise you’ll fall short in the Bundesliga.”
Gerardo Seoane: “I’m really pleased for the players. They put a lot of effort in today and deserved the result. We didn’t lose our patience after Wolfsburg went 1-0 up but tried to stay compact. Our equaliser was a little fortunate but we started the second half well, were good in transition and were very efficient in the second half. After the last few weeks it feels good to get these three points. I hope it gives the players the confidence and energy to stay on the right track.”
Line-ups and stats
VfL Wolfsburg: Pervan – Maehle, Bornauw, Jenz, Gerhardt – Arnold, Svanberg (89‘ Vranckx) – Baku (73‘ Cerny), Tomas (57‘ Sarr), Wimmer (57‘ Majer) – Wind (73‘ Behrens)
Subs: Klinger (GK), Fischer, Amoako, Kaminski
Borussia Mönchengladbach: Omlin – Friedrich, Elvedi, Wöber – Itakura (70‘ Reitz), Weigl, Lainer, Netz (88‘ Scally), Honorat (88’ Jordan), Plea (82‘ Cvancara) – Ngoumou (70’ Hack)
Subs: Nicolas (GK), Chiarodia, Herrmann, Ranos
Goals: 1-0 Baku (7‘), 1-1 Itakura (53‘), 1-2 Ngoumou (58‘), 1-3 Reitz (88‘)
Yellow crads: Bornauw, Wimmer / Hack, Omlin
Referee: Bastian Dankert (Rostock)
Attendance: 26,105 at Volkswagen Arena, Wolfsburg
