The Wolves were forced to come from behind to win 3-1 in Leverkusen, but Yannick Gerhardt equalised from a tight angle after Leon Bailey's opening goal, with maiden Bundesliga strikes from Wout Weghorst and Renato Steffen in the second half enough to secure a second straight Bundesliga win. Bruno Labbadia's side are next in top-flight action when Hertha Berlin visit the Volkswagen Arena on Saturday 15 September (kick-off: 15:30 CEST).
Pervan makes Bundesliga debut
Wolfsburg coach Labbadia made two enforced changes from the Matchday 1 win against FC Schalke 04: Gerhardt replaced the injured Josuha Guilavogui in midfield, while Pavao Pervan made his Bundesliga debut in place of Koen Casteels, who was attending the birth of his child. Their absences meant Robin Knoche wore the captain's armband for the first time in the Bundesliga. Leverkusen coach Heiko Herrlich also made two changes after last weekend's defeat at Borussia Mönchengladbach, with Mitchell Weiser and Lars Bender replacing Benjamin Henrichs and Dominik Kohr.
End-to-end opening
Buoyed by the dramatic win against Schalke last week, the Wolves started confidently, and although Jérôme Roussillon was called into evasive action early on, Weghorst could have given Labbadia's troops the lead in the seventh minute. The hosts always carried a threat on the break, however, and took the lead against the run of play when Bailey drove a powerful shot past Pervan from the edge of the box. The Wolves continued to shift possession adroitly from flank to flank, and when Josip Brekalo found Gerhardt in the box in the 36th minute, the midfielder fired in a deserved equaliser from a tight angle, his finish helped in by Ramazan Özcan. There could have been another goal before the break, too, but Steffen headed wide from close range.
Landmark goals seal win
Continuing to attack in the same enterprising fashion as in the first period, Wolfsburg found the goals their performance merited after the interval. In the 55th minute, Roussillon delivered an inch-perfect cross into the area, where Weghorst rose highest to nod past Özcan for his first Bundesliga goal. Five minutes later and the lead had been extended when Steffen latched onto a wonderful through-ball from Brekalo and finished expertly into the bottom corner from the edge of the area. Leverkusen rang the attacking changes in response, but the damage had already been done; Labbadia's troops stood firm in the face of late pressure to make it two wins from two at the start of the Bundesliga season.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen: Özcan - Weiser, Tah, Dragovic, Wendell (Aranguiz 59') - Havertz, L. Bender - Brandt, Volland (Paulinho 71'), Bailey – Alario (Kiese Thelin 71')
VfL Wolfsburg: Pervan - William, Knoche, Brooks, Roussillon (Uduokhai 84') - Camacho, Arnold – Steffen (Mehmedi 67'), Gerhardt, Brekalo – Weghorst (Ginczek 81')
Goals: Bailey (24'), Gerhardt (36'), Weghorst (55'), Steffen (60')
Yellow cards: Camacho, Roussillon, Ginczek / Dragovic, Kiese Thelin, Weiser
Attendance: 26,247
Referee: Sven Jablonski (Bremen)
