First Team

Thrilling draw on club’s birthday

The Wolves drew 3-3 with Köln, featuring a brilliant Arnold free-kick and a late sucker-punch from Kaminski.

It was a memorable afternoon of football in Wolfsburg as VfL played out a topsy-turvy contest against 1. FC Köln in front of a full house on the club’s 80th birthday. Following an impressive pre-match tifo and wearing a special jersey, the Wolves drew 3-3 in a tumultuous clash at the Volkswagen Arena. 

Mohammed Amoura, Lovro Majer and Maximilan Arnold were on target for the Green-and-Whites, while Luca Waldschmidt, Isak Johannesson and VfL loanee Jakub Kaminski – in the 14th minute of added time – scored the goals for the visitors.

Goals

  • 0-1 Luca Waldschmidt (5’): Waldschmidt initiates the attack for Köln himself down the left. Marius Bülter then cuts the ball back into the middle, Jan Thielmann’s effort is pushed away by Kamil Grabara but the ex-Wolfsburg man taps in the rebound from close range.
     
  • 1-1 Mohammed Amoura (42’): Arnold delivers a free-kick from midway inside the half, Amoura gets the better of Rav van den Berg in the six-yard box and heads in the equaliser, leaving Marvin Schwäbe with no chance.
     
  • 2-1 Lovro Majer (61’): Kilian Fischer feeds Joakim Maehle on the right and he gets to the byline before driving a low ball across goal. Majer arrives at the near post and turns it in.
     
  • 2-2 Isak Johannesson (90’): Köln counter through Said El Mala, who drives incisively into the box and cuts the ball back for Johannesson to score from 12 metres.
     
  • 3-2 Maximilian Arnold (90’+9): A captain’s goal from Arnold, who curls a free-kick from 18 metres over the wall and into the far corner – Schwäbe with no chance.
     
  • 3-3 Jakub Kaminski (90’+14): In the last second, it’s none other than the Wolfsburg loanee who strikes. Ragnar Ache heads the ball down and Kaminski bundles it into the left corner from nine metres.

Reactions

Paul Simonis: “Köln started the game much better than we did. During the storm interruption, we spoke about what we need to do better and we did that. That’s how we scored the equaliser and I think we played well in that period. The second half was an emotional rollercoaster – up and down. Both teams fought until the end. We need to learn to play with more maturity at the end. It’s not the first time we’ve conceded a goal in stoppage time. When you score in the 99th minute, you think you’ve won – then you have to defend the goal with everything you’ve got. We didn’t stick to the plan there, especially with regards to defending the area from crosses. We have to improve that quickly.” 

Lukas Kwasniok: “It was a wild rollercoaster ride – with a better start for us. After the long interruption, Wolfsburg were better and deserved to level at 1-1. They were the better team in the second half, too. We had to react to the injury to Rav van den Berg and sent a message to the team that they had to get a point at all costs. We then made it 2-2 and the last 15 minutes were even more frantic than the 90 before. The equaliser at the end was a really important goal for us, which the team deserved over the whole game. At the end of the day, it was an even game and both teams can live with the result – even though the late goal will hurt Wolfsburg. Over the 90 minutes it was deserved.”

Line-ups and stats  

VfL Wolfsburg: Grabara – Fischer, Jenz, Koulierakis, Maehle – Arnold, Vinicius Souza, Skov Olsen (89‘ Lindström), Majer (85‘ Seelt), Wimmer (89‘ Daghim) – Amoura (70‘ Pejcinovic) 

Subs: Müller (GK), Zehnter, Dardai, Eriksen, Wind 

1. FC Köln: Schwäbe – van den Berg (71‘ Kainz), Hübers, Schmied – Sebulonsen (64‘ Castro-Montes), Martel, Lund (78‘ Ache), Thielmann (64‘ El Mala), Kaminski – Waldschmidt (46‘ Johannesson), Bülter 

Subs: Zieler (GK), Özkacar, Huseinbasic, Krauß 

Goals: 0-1 Waldschmidt (5‘), 1-1 Amoura (42‘), 2-1 Majer (65‘), 2-2 Johannesson (90‘), 3-2 Arnold (90‘+9), 3-3 Kaminski (90‘+14) 

Yellow Cards: Majer, Grabara / Schmied, Johannesson 

Referee: Bastian Dankert (Schwerin) 

Attendance: 28,917 at Volkswagen Arena