VfL Wolfsburg dropped points for the first time in this Bundesliga season on Sunday evening, drawing 1-1 at home to Eintracht Frankfurt. Wout Weghorst scored the equaliser for the Green-and-Whites (70’) in front of 9,266 fans at the Volkswagen Arena, cancelling out Sam Lammers’ opener for Frankfurt (38’). VfL are now second behind FC Bayern Munich in the table after five matchdays. The Wolves are next in action this coming Saturday, 25 September, when they visit TSG Hoffenheim (kick-off 15:30 CEST).
Team news
Mark van Bommel rotated following Tuesday’s Champions League match at OSC Lille and brought in Sebastiaan Bornauw, Yannick Gerhardt, Luca Waldschmidt and Dodi Lukebakio, who made his full VfL debut.
Goals
0-1 Lammers (38th minute): The visitors take the lead against the run of play. Filip Kostic picks up the ball on the left side and delivers a low ball into the middle, where Lammers doesn’t think twice and fires into the left corner. It’s the first goal that the Green-and-Whites have conceded from open play this season.
1-1 Weghorst (70th minute): Kevin Mbabu tees up Luca Waldschmidt, whose shot is saved by Kevin Trapp, but Weghorst is in the right place at the far post to poke in the rebound. A long-overdue equaliser!
Coaches’ reaction Mark van Bommel: “I think we would’ve deserved the three points. We had two huge chances in the first quarter of an hour, Kevin was on his own in front of goal. We clearly dictated the game, and then the one time we didn’t deal well with a pressure situation, Frankfurt played through us and scored a great goal through Lammers. But we kept at it in the second half, created a lot of chances and managed to equalise 20 minutes before the end. We pressed on after that and tried to score the winner. I’m actually disappointed but at the same time proud of the way we played.”
Oliver Glasner: “We had problems from set pieces at the start and Wolfsburg could’ve taken the lead. Then we got a better grip and scored a very nicely worked goal. Our pressing was good, we forced VfL into long balls and kept them a good distance from our goal. You also have to say that Wolfsburg applied a lot of pressure, so the equaliser had been coming. It got a bit frantic at the end. We were hoping not to concede another goal, but we didn’t make good use of our own counters. Overall, therefore, 1-1 is a fair scoreline.”
Line-ups and stats
VfL Wolfsburg: Casteels – Mbabu, Lacroix, Bornauw, Gerhardt (86‘ Roussillon) – Guilavogui, Arnold – Lukebakio, Waldschmidt (72‘ Baku), Steffen (46‘ L. Nmecha) – Weghorst
Subs: Pervan (GK), Brooks, Roussillon, F. Nmecha, Philipp, Vranckx, Ginczek
Eintracht Frankfurt: Trapp – da Costa, Ndicka, Hinteregger, Durm – Jakic, Sow (82‘ Hrustic) – Borre, Kamada (83‘ Ilsanker), Kostic (72‘ Lindström) – Lammers (72‘ Hauge)
Subs: Ramaj (GK), Chandler, Hasebe, Paciencia
Goal: 0-1 Lammers (38‘), 1-1 Weghorst (70‘)
Yellow cards: Waldschmidt, Guilavogui / da Costa, Sow, Jakic, Durm, Hinteregger, Ndicka
Referee: Felix Zwayer (Berlin)
Attendance: 9,266 at Volkswagen Arena
