Wolfsburg also won their second game under Florian Kohfeldt. The hard-fought 2:1 against RB Salzburgwas immensely important to keep their Round of 16 hopes alive.
For Wolfsburg’s new coach Kohfeldt it was the first game on the big Champions League stage. At the weekend, the coach had enjoyed a perfect debut with his new employer, winning 2:0 at Bayer Leverkusen After that game, VfL made two changes to their starting eleven: Otavio and Weghorst started for Steffen and Philipp (both bench).
A fortnight ago, Salzburg had prevailed against Wolfsburg with 3:1. That’s why coach Matthias Jaissle trusted the same eleven that had already caused the Wolves problems once before.
Baku scores early – Wöber equalises with free-kick
The game had hardly started when the visitors from Salzburg had a great chance to make it 1:0, but Adeyemi shot past Arnold on the left (2.). The missed opportunity really hurt the visitors a little later, because Wolfsburg struck ice-cold with their first chance: Gerhardt’s pass slipped through to Baku, who had no trouble to finish (3.). After this early goal, Wolfsburg let the visitors play and stood defensively secure. Apart from a shot from distance by Sucic (7th), the home side allowed nothing.
It was all the more annoying for them that the Austrians equalised out of nowhere: Wöber’s free kick from about 25 metres hit the right side of the goal (30th). Casteels could not be completely blamed for this. Even though Salzburg did not have the multitude of chances, the guests did more for the game, therefore the equaliser was not undeserved. VfL was too passive offensively for a long time, but woke up again after the goal, Weghorst’s shot with a touchdown went over (36.). Thus, the team went into the dressing room with a 1-1 draw.
Nmecha strikes powerfully to regain the lead
After the break, Salzburg again did more at first, Adeyemi (50.) and Okafor (54.) missed first-class chances. Wolfsburg were too passive and let the visitors play. But suddenly VfL took the lead again: Arnold’s beautiful pass was finished off by Nmecha from an acute angle with a powerful finish into the top right corner (60.). Now the Wolves were better in the game again, Nmecha missed the brace (65.).
After the second goal, Salzburg needed some time to find their way back into the game. In the end, the guests threw everything forward again and had two chances, but Casteels was on guard against Sesko (84th) and Kristensen (88th). So in the end it remained the important 2:1 for VfL, who got their first Champions League win of the season and are now only two points behind leaders RB.
Wolfsburg’s next match is against FC Augsburg on Saturday at 3.30 pm, while RB Salzburg face Austria Wien in the Austrian capital on the same day (5 pm).
