First Team

Points shared with Kiel

Wolves draw 2-2 with Holstein Kiel on Friday night.

VfL Wolfsburg opened up Matchday 19 with a floodlit draw. Head coach Ralph Hasenhüttl’s men shared the points on Friday after Holstein Kiel held them at 2-2. Patrick Wimmer (50’) and Jonas Wind (53’) grabbed the goals for the Green-and-Whites in front of 22,103 fans at the Volkswagen Arena. The point moves the Wolves up to sixth in the table, with the rest of the weekend’s matches still to be played.

New signing Andreas Skov Olsen made his debut in the second half, coming on in the 46th minute for Kilian Fischer.

VfL will next be in action on Sunday 2 February (kick-off at 15.30 CET) away to Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga.

Goals

  • 0-1 Zec (14’): The Wolves have made goals from set-pieces a speciality of theirs this season, but it turns out that Kiel are no slouches either. After a corner is cleared, the ball is lofted back in and David Zec jumps highest before heading home an unchallenged but accurate header to make it 1-0 to the visitors.
     
  • 1-1 Wimmer (50’): Wimmer lights up the match as soon as he comes on. The Austrian picks up the ball deep in his own half and launches an attack. Wind then sets him up inside the middle of the box and Wimmer fires it home between the keeper’s legs.
     
  • 2-1 Wind (53’): With Kiel struggling to get organised, the Wolves realise that this is the time to go all-out for another goal. Wimmer chips a corner into the box and Wind pops up in the right place at the right time to head home from close range.
     
  • 2-2 Skrzybski (80’): Out of nowhere, the Storks drag themselves back into the match. Benedikt Pichler feeds Steven Skrzybski down the right flank, and the striker cuts in and beats Kamil Grabara at the near post.

Reactions

Ralph Hasenhüttl: “We’re obviously not happy at all with the result. If your opponents get into the box twice and end up scoring twice, that really hurts. But that’s the way it is sometimes in football. Kiel are a team that never hide – they always give it all they’ve got. And if you don’t get a third goal, then this kind of thing ends up happening. In the first half, we didn’t play well after we conceded – it was hectic and we didn’t find the solutions we needed. In the second half, we looked a lot better up front because we knew that time was running out. The team showed a positive reaction and overall played pretty well. But we needed to get more than just the two goals.”

Marcel Rapp: “The first half wasn’t the most exciting of contests. My team was pretty solid, kept things tight and we even took the lead from a set piece. After the break, we started off OK for the first couple of minutes but after Wolfsburg scored two, it was tough to get anything going as they showed the quality that they have. Wolfsburg grew in confidence and had chances to increase their lead. We then had that one attack that made it 2-2, and as such, we were pretty lucky to come away with a point.”

Line-up and stats

VfL Wolfsburg: Grabara – Fischer (46’ Skov Olsen), Vavro, Koulierakis (88‘ Nmecha), Maehle – Arnold, Svanberg (71‘ Bornauw), Gerhardt (46‘ Wimmer), Tomas (83‘ Vranckx), Amoura – Wind

Subs: Müller (GK), Dardai, Özcan, Behrens

Holstein Kiel: Weiner – Becker, Zec, Komenda – Porath, Remberg, Knudsen (68‘ Arp), Javorcek (79‘ Tolkin), Kelato (79‘ Gigovic), Machino (59‘ Skrzybski) – Harres (79‘ Pichler)

Subs: Dähne (GK), Geschwill, Rosenboom, Ivezic

Goals: 0-1 Zec (14‘), 1-1 Wimmer (50‘), 2-1 Wind (53.), 2-2 Skrzybski (80.)   

Yellow cards: Wimmer, Maehle / Zec, Remberg, Arp

Referee: Sven Jablonski (Bremen)

Attendance: 22,103 at Volkswagen Arena (Wolfsburg)