VfL Wolfsburg were eliminated from international competition after a poor performance in a 3-1 defeat to the clever and composed French champions Lille.
Wolfsburg coach Florian Kohfeldt decided to make five changes after the 3-0 defeat at 1. FSV Mainz 05. The recovered Casteels, Bornauw, Mbabu, Gerhardt and Waldschmidt started in place of Pervan, Brooks, Baku, Lukebakio (all on the bench) and Lukas Nmecha (yellow suspension).
For Lille, coach Joceyln Gourvennec made three changes compared to the 2-1 league defeat to ES Troyes AC: Instead of Tiago Dalo (bench), Xeka (injured) and Bamba (suspended), Botman, Gudmundsson and goalscorer David started.
Wolfsburg eager, Lille ice cold
After a committed first few minutes from both teams, the visitors took an early lead following a Wolfsburg corner kick. Goalkeeper Grbic made the game fast and via Celik and Ikoné, who crossed the midfield in no time and then passed into the penalty area, Burak Yilmaz finally finished ice-cold in the penalty area – 1:0 (11.).
VfL tried to answer directly in the person of Waldschmidt, but his long-range shot just missed the goal (12.). All in all, the team from Lower Saxony found it difficult to score against the attentively defending French team. At least from play, because OSC had problems with standard situations. Weghorst placed a header from a free-kick right on Grbic (28th). Shortly before the break, a corner kick by Arnold sailed directly and by no means harmlessly into the five-metre area and past the Lille keeper towards the goal, but Reinildo cleared before the goal line (42.). The deficit meant that Wolfsburg now needed two goals at the break to progress.
David and Gomes counter VfL
Only in the first few minutes of the second half did Wolves show a sense of urgency in their actions. But this quickly changed again, especially as Lille continued to work consistently against the ball and counter-attacked with extreme determination time and again. After a deflected Ikoné shot, Casteels had to save in flight (53rd), and after a faux pas by the Belgian, VfL were also lucky ten minutes later that Yilmaz this time missed the goal from a good position (63rd).
But more Lille goals were to come, while Wolfsburg were too despondent and lacked ideas in the offensive. The decisive goal for the visitors came in the 72nd minute. Joker Gomes passed through to David, who scored with the help of the inside right post. But that was not enough, because Gomes himself scored a little later after VfL had lost the ball in their own half and made it 3:0 (78.). After Lille missed further good chances, Steffen at least scored the consolation goal after Renato Sanches lost the ball in his own penalty area (89th).
Wolfsburg, now eliminated from international competition, now play VfB Stuttgart in the Bundesliga on Saturday (18.30). Lille await Olympique Lyon in Ligue 1 on Sunday (1pm). The draw for the last 16 of the Champions League will take place in Nyon on Monday (12 noon).
