VfL Wolfsburg earned a deserved 2-2 draw in an entertaining contest against FC Bayern Munich on the final day of the season. Trailing 2-0 through goals from Josip Stanisic (16’) and Robert Lewandowski (40’), the Wolves produced a superb comeback in front of a sell-out, jubilant crowd at the Volkswagen Arena.
Jonas Wind pulled one back on the stroke of half-time (45’) before Max Kruse completed the scoring 13 minutes into the second half to deny the Bundesliga champions victory. It was VfL’s first point against Bayern since 22 September 2017 and ensured the Green-and-Whites finish the campaign in 12th place on 42 points.
Goals
- 0-1 Stanisic (16’): Joshua Kimmich sends a corner towards the near post, where Stanisic manages to steer his header into the far corner.
- 0-2 Lewandowski (40’): Thomas Müller finds room to swing in a cross from the right side of the penalty area. Lewandowski beats Maxence Lacroix to the delivery and heads into the left corner to double the visitors’ lead.
- 1-2 Wind (45’): Kruse’s low cross towards the penalty spot is met by Wind, who controls the ball with his first touch before firing into the left corner on the turn.
- 2-2 Kruse (58’): Micky van de Ven finds a pocket of space on the wing before sending in a fierce delivery into the centre, where Kruse prods home the equaliser from five metres out.
Post-match quotes
Florian Kohfeldt: “After a disappointing season overall, this was a good way to end the campaign. We had trouble finding our way into the game and getting into challenges in the first half. We still managed to create two good chances, but Bayern created more and deserved to be 2-0 in front. Our first goal was an extremely important one for us – we said to ourselves at half-time that we wanted to produce one more really good display, and that’s exactly what the lads did. Just like last week in Cologne, no one can accuse us of not trying until the very end. From the 70th minute onwards, we struggled to maintain our performance levels again. Due to the psychological efforts involved and the performance in the second half, a point is absolutely fine. I’m now looking forward to the new season, when we want to produce performances like this on a regular basis.”
Julian Nagelsmann: “That was one of our best first-half performances since the turn of the year. We were completely dominant and should have scored a lot more goals. In the second half we had a poor quarter of an hour, when we were very passive and asking to concede. After that we were able to regain control and had chances from which we should have scored. At the end of the day, it’s a frustrating point for us.”
