VfL Wolfsburg arrested a run of four consecutive Bundesliga defeats with a 2-2 draw at 1. FSV Mainz 05 on Saturday afternoon. The Wolves, who remain in 12th place after Matchday 30, return to action with a home game against SC Freiburg at 15:30 CEST on Saturday 26 April.
MORE FACTS AND FIGURES
- Early lead: Maximilian Arnold’s long-range effort opened the scoring after two minutes and seven seconds – the Wolves’ earliest Bundesliga goal of the season. Since detailed records began in 2004/05, no Bundesliga player has scored more goals from distance than Arnold (21, level with Diego and Marco Reus).
- Late leveller: Denis Vavro’s late goal to make it 2-2 means the Wolves have now scored 16 goals in the final 15 minutes of games this season. Only Bayern Munich have found the net more often (18 times) in the final quarter of an hour.
- Comeback assist: Almost 11 months to the day since his last Bundesliga appearance – which also came against Mainz – Kevin Paredes made his comeback from a long-standing foot injury. The 21-year-old American marked his return to the side with an assist after setting up Arnold’s long-range strike.
- Comebacks aplenty: Mattias Svanberg’s comeback, however, did not go according to plan. After missing the last three Bundesliga games through injury, the midfielder was brought off the bench in the 63rd minute of Saturday’s clash but was forced off less than 20 minutes later after suffering a knock in a challenge. Lovro Majer, who last appeared for VfL in November, returned to the matchday squad against Mainz and entered the fray with five minutes remaining, while Bartosz Bialek was named in the squad for the first time since suffering a serious knee injury in pre-season.
- Wind reaches milestone: Striker Jonas Wind made his 100th Bundesliga appearance for the Wolves at Mainz.
- Man of the Match: With 35 percent of the vote, Vavro was named Man of the Match by VfL fans on Saturday. Arnold (26 percent) and Paredes (21 percent) came second and third respectively.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
- Attempts: FSV 18 – VfL 16
- xG: FSV 2.75 – VfL 1.83
- Distance covered: FSV 114.76 km – VfL 113.05 km
- Possession: FSV 52% – VfL 48%
- Challenges won: FSV 46% – VfL 54%
- Pass completion rate: FSV 77% – VfL 77%
- Successful dribbles: FSV 16 – VfL 9
- Fastest player: Nikolas Veratschnig (FSV) 35.43 km/h – Tiago Tomas (VfL) 34.99 km/h
- Most distance covered: Anthony Caci (FSV) 11.5 km – Bence Dardai (VfL) 11.7 km
