Thanks to a 2-0 win at Bayer Leverkusen, VfL Wolfsburg celebrated an almost perfect debut under new coach Florian Kohfeldt after eight winless competitive games.
Compared to the 1:2 defeat in the cup against second-division club Karlsruher SC, Bayer coach Gerardo Seoane made four personnel changes: Instead of Andrich, Amiri, Diaby (yellow suspension) and Paulinho, Hincapie, Demirbay, Wirtz and the fit Alario started.
In his first game as Wolfsburg coach, Kohfeldt made two changes compared to the 0:2 against Freiburg under predecessor van Bommel: Gerhardt and Philipp started instead of Mbabu and Paulo Otavio.
Little chances, lots of pushing
Both teams met with almost identical 3-4-3 systems. Wolfsburg got off to the better start, disrupting the Werkself early on and creating the first good chance of the game. However, Hradecky saved a shot by Baku from the edge of the penalty area (8th). After about a quarter of an hour, Leverkusen got into the game better and from then on had advantages in terms of possession. After a counter-attack, Bayer had their first clear opportunity through Adli, but after an interplay with Wirtz, the Frenchman just missed (21).
All in all, chances were few and far between throughout the first half, as both teams defended with great commitment and speed. After just under half an hour, the situation escalated for a short time after Steffen kicked Wirtz on the foot, although the whistle had already blown. Referee Aytekin showed Steffen as well as Brooks and Tah as the ringleaders of the shoving match the yellow card, which Alario also received shortly afterwards after a foul on Steffen. After an uneventful first half, the game went into the break goalless.
Kohfeldt’s substitutions were promptly effective
Kohfeldt made two changes after the break, Paulo Otavio and Lukebakio coming on for Steffen and Philipp. A decision that quickly paid off in the long term. Already in the 48th minute, Lukebakio broke free after a pass from the same height and finally passed inside the penalty area. There, Nmecha scored from close range. And that was not all: After a combination of the jokers – Lukebakio took Paulo Otavio with him on the left – Nmecha first failed against Hradecky, then Gerhardt against the blocking Demirbay, before Arnold finally shot in humorlessly at the third attempt to make it 2:0 for VfL (51.).
The Werkself had to shake a little and then tried to improve the result. But in front of an impatient crowd of supporters, the Rhinelanders mostly lacked sparkling ideas and esprit. Against well-positioned Wolfsburg, there were still no clear chances. Demirbay just missed from distance (74th), Paulinho, cleverly played free by Amiri, put the ball too far in front of the goal (77th) – and a free kick again by Demirbay got stuck in the wall (85th). But that was it for Leverkusen’s goal approaches in the second half until stoppage time. Only then did Alario have a good chance to score with a header (90.+2).
Lacroix sees red late on – Alario misses
In the last minute of stoppage time, Leverkusen were awarded a penalty kick after Lacroix caught Alario by the shirt from behind and was shown the red card for the emergency stop (90.+6). Alario failed to hit Casteels with the penalty kick, so that it remained 2-0 for Wolfsburg. The Leverkusen fans acknowledged the final whistle with a shrieking chorus of whistles.
The next step for both clubs is international: Bayer 04 await Betis Sevilla in the Europa League next Thursday (9 p.m.) before returning to serious action in the league at Hertha BSC on Sunday (3.30 p.m.). Wolfsburg, meanwhile, have to face RB Salzburg in the Champions League on Tuesday (18.45), while in the Bundesliga they face FC Augsburg on Saturday (15.30).
