VfL Wolfsburg recorded a 2-1 win at home to UEFA Champions League participants Union Berlin in their first game back following the international break. Two Danish players got the goals for the Green-and-Whites: Jonas Wind (12’) struck his fifth league goal of the season, while newcomer Joakim Maehle (30’) scored for the Wolves for the first time. Robin Gosens (28’) was on target for Union, who were unable to prevent VfL continuing their strong home record against the club from the capital.
Niko Kovac’s side are in action again on Saturday 23 September when they travel to Borussia Dortmund on Bundesliga Matchday 5 (kick-off 15:30 CEST).
Goals
- 1-0 Wind (12’): Union are on top, but VfL score! And who else but Wind? Kevin Behrens loses the ball in midfield and the Wolves immediately burst forward. Lovro Majer feeds the ball through to Wind, who curls a brilliant first-time shot from the left into the bottom right-hand corner. It’s the striker’s fifth league goal already this season!
- 1-1 Gosens (28’): Union equalise. VfL struggle to clear the ball at the back and Rogerio affords Aissa Laidouni space to cross from the right. Gosens gets there ahead of Maxence Lacroix to head in the leveller.
- 2-1 Maehle (30’): Wow, what a goal! VfL lead again as Maehle volleys home a brilliant effort from distance to make it 2-1!
Reaction
Niko Kovac: “It was tight, as it always is in our games against Union. The team battled for the win, which certainly wasn’t deserved today. Overall, we threw everything into it and we competed and defended well. The first ten minutes weren’t good, but after scoring we put together some nice moves and moved the ball around well. We pictured things going differently in the second half. Having said that, we didn’t really allow them any clear-cut chances, and we defended a lot of crosses and second balls well. We defended in a 4-4-2 formation because we knew we would need to sweep up after any high balls with two holding midfielders. You have to win tight games in the Bundesliga so that things go in the right direction. I’m happy and satisfied that we started with a win after the international break.”
Urs Fischer: “Congratulations to Wolfsburg for a battling win. It feels like a game we shouldn’t have lost today. My team did a lot of things right over the 90 minutes, but the one criticism is that if you create so many chances, you need to be more clinical. That didn’t happen for us today, which is why we lost a game like this.”
Line-ups and stats
VfL Wolfsburg: Casteels – Maehle (90‘+1 Zesiger), Lacroix (90’+1 Bornauw), Jenz, Rogerio – Arnold, Svanberg, Gerhardt, Majer (72’ Baku) – Wind (80’ Sarr), Wimmer (72’ Tomas)
Subs: Pervan (GK), Paredes, Cerny, Kaminski
1. FC Union Berlin: Rönnow – Doekhi, Knoche (85‘ Kaufmann), Diogo Leite – Trimmel (72‘ Juranovic), Kral, Gosens, Laidouni (61‘ Tousart), Haberer (72‘ Aaronson) – K. Behrens, Fofana (61’ Becker)
Subs: Schwolow, Bonucci, Roussillon, Hollerbach
Goals: 1-0 Wind (12’), 1-1 Gosens (28‘), 2-1 Maehle (30‘)
Yellow cards: Svanberg / -
Referee: Felix Brych (Munich)
Attendance: 28,217 at Volkswagen Arena
