Rather than the usual run-out against weaker opponents to get the pre-season off to a gentle start, the Wolves had their work cut out for them in their first friendly of the summer. The opponents on Thursday afternoon for the Green-and-Whites were Bundesliga opponents and Champions League qualifiers RB Leipzig. The sun was beating down and temperatures hit the 30-degree mark over in the east of the country but despite those conditions, it was an enjoyable match which ended in a fair 1-1 (0-0) draw. Renato Steffen gave the Wolves the lead from the spot after a foul in the box (70th minute), but Patrik Schick restored parity just a few minutes later, again with a penalty (72’).
This unusual pre-season friendly came about due to the fact that both Wolfsburg and Leipzig will soon be back in European action. VfL have their UEFA Europa League round of 16 return leg in Kiev next Wednesday, 5 August, where they will face Shakhtar Donetsk for a place in the finals tournament. RB meanwhile are in action on Thursday 13 August in the Champions League tournament in Lisbon, taking on Atletico Madrid in the quarter-finals. VfL coach Oliver Glasner used the friendly at the Leipzig youth academy – which was closed to fans due to the COVID-19 pandemic – to make sure that all of his squad got a run-out, with a full change of team during the second half.
“A good account of ourselves”
Oliver Glasner: I’m very satisfied with the team’s performance. We did very well after five days back in training – and not just in terms of the result. The players gave a good account of themselves, even if everything was not perfect just yet. It’s also important that all the players came through a warm-up match like this fully fit, so from that point of view, you can say that everything turned out the way that we wanted it to. Now we’ve got to focus on what’s coming up and we want to use the remaining six days before the Donetsk match to get a little more energy to our game.
Goals: 0-1 Steffen (70’ pen), 1-1 Schick (72’ pen)
