VfL Wolfsburg have crashed out of the DFB Cup, with head coach Paul Simonis’s side suffering a 1-0 defeat at home to Holstein Kiel on Tuesday evening. The only goal of the game came courtesy of the visitors’ captain Alexander Bernhardsson, who converted a spot-kick in the 42nd minute.
The Wolves were forced to play around an hour of the match with ten men after Jenson Seelt was shown a second yellow card in the 35th minute, and try as they might, they were unable to get themselves on level terms.
VfL will be back in Bundesliga action on Sunday 2 November (kick-off: 17.30 CET), with TSG Hoffenheim the opponents at the Volkswagen Arena.
Goal
1-0 Bernhardsson (42’): A long ball sent towards the Wolves’ goal sees Adrian Kapralik brought down in the box by Vinicius Souza. The referee points to the spot and the Storks’ captain Bernhardsson makes no mistake.
Reaction
Paul Simonis: “This was another match where were didn’t show enough energy. We were very poor on the ball in the first half and made plenty of wrong decisions. The opposition made life difficult for us with how dangerous they were on the counter. After the break, the team reacted well and played a better half, despite being a man down. Overall though, we put in a poor performance and deserved to lose.”
Marcel Rapp: “From the very start, we had a good grip on the match and a decent amount of possession. We always looked dangerous whenever we had the ball and we deserved to go into the break 1-0 up. The longer the match went on, the more we lost control of it. We kept retreating further and couldn’t manage to generate pressure anymore. Wolfsburg created a few chances but we’re through to the next round, and I’d say that we earned it.”
Line-ups and stats
VfL Wolfsburg: Müller – Kumbedi, Seelt, Koulierakis, Zehnter (73‘ Maehle) – Souza (89‘ Dardai), Arnold – Skov Olsen (46‘ Daghim), Eriksen, Amoura – Pejcinovic (46‘ Wimmer)
Subs: Pervan (GK), Angely, Gerhardt, Majer, Svanberg
Holstein Kiel: Weiner – Zec, Johansson, Komenda – Rosenboom (63‘ Nekic), Schwab (78‘ Wagner), Knudsen (89‘ Ivezic), Tolkin, Bernhardsson (78‘ Köster), Therkelsen – Kapralik (63‘ Harres)
Subs: Krumrey (GK), Roslyng, Niehoff, Müller
Goals: 0-1 Bernhardsson (42‘, pen)
Yellow cards: Zehnter, Müller, Souza, Amoura, Wimmer / Komenda, Zec, Johansson
Yellow-red card: Seelt (35‘)
Referee: Florian Exner (Münster)
Attendance: 10,793 at Volkswagen Arena
