First Team

Wolves ease into quarter-finals

VfL booked their place in the last eight of the DFB Cup with a 3-0 win over Hoffenheim.

VfL Wolfsburg earned a 3-0 win over TSG Hoffenheim in the last 16 of the DFB Cup on Wednesday evening. After a goalless first half in which the Wolves had much the better chances, the Green-and-Whites took the lead in the 63rd minute following a well-worked free-kick, with Denis Vavro’s shot deflecting past Oliver Baumann and into the net.

Head coach Ralph Hasenhüttl also made what proved to be some inspired substitutions, with Jonas Wind coming off the bench to score the team’s second (67’) and fellow sub Yannick Gerhardt sealing a 3-0 win in the 85th minute to send the Wolves into the quarter-finals.

VfL are in action again on Sunday 8 December (kick-off 15:30 CET) when they take on 1. FSV Mainz 05 at the Volkswagen Arena.

Goals

  • 1-0 Denis Vavro (63’): Vavro shoots from around 20 metres out. It takes a slight deflection off Tom Bischof and squirms between Baumann’s hands – not that we’re complaining!

  • 2-0 Jonas Wind (67’): Wind plays the ball out to Ridle Baku on the right and he delivers a cross into the middle for the forward to clinically finish into the right-hand corner from nine metres. A vital goal!

  • 3-0 Yannick Gerhardt (85’): Hoffenheim switch off and Wind takes full advantage. A quickly taken free-kick with a pass into the box sees Gerhardt with just Baumann to beat. He keeps his cool and scores the decisive third.

Reaction

Ralph Hasenhüttl: “We played against a team that’s very good on the ball, especially in the first 45 minutes. The flow of our play is getting better and better, and we found good solutions in possession. One of our qualities is that our substitutes can make an impact straight away, and that’s important because it helps swing games like this your way. One of the reasons we’re able to do that is because we’re there for each other as a team. Overall, it wasn’t an undeserved win by this scoreline. It’s important that we keep alive this dream we have of staying in the cup.”

Christian Ilzer: “We’re very disappointed to have been eliminated from this competition. We played well for 60 minutes of the match. We didn’t have the better chances, but we kept the game on a knife edge and had opportunities of our own. It’s at times like that where we need to bring the momentum on our side. We’re not doing that at the moment. We conceded soft goals and were too ineffectual up front, which makes it difficult to win games. After their opening goal, we deserved to lose.”

Line-ups and stats

VfL Wolfsburg: Grabara – Fischer, Vavro, Koulierakis, Maehle (87‘ Kaminski ) – Arnold, B. Dardai (58‘ Gerhardt), Wimmer (58‘ Svanberg), Baku, Tomas (58‘ Wind) – Amoura (74‘ L. Nmecha)

Subs: Müller (GK), Zesiger, Özcan, K. Behrens

TSG Hoffenheim: Baumann – Gendrey, Akpoguma, Arthur Chaves, Prass – Samassekou (78‘ M. Berisha), Stach (73‘ D. Jurasek), Hlozek (66‘ Bruun Larsen), Bischof (73‘ Geiger), Kramaric – Moerstedt (73‘ Tabakovic)

Subs: Philipp (GK), Hranac, Kaderabek, Nsoki

Goals: 1-0 Vavro (63‘), 2-0 Wind (67‘), 3-0 Gerhardt (85‘)

Yellow cards: Arnold, Dardai / Kramaric, Baumann

Referee: Daniel Schlager (Rastatt)

Attendance: 13.909 at Volkswagen Arena (Wolfsburg)