Status: 09.12.2021 00:05
The second round of the “premier class” was possible, in the end VfL Wolfsburg is even without the Europa League: With the 1: 3 (0: 1) defeat against OSC Lille, the “Wolves” say goodbye as fourth in the Champions League group G from Europe and are currently giving a worrying picture.
The home defeat against the French champions was the fourth consecutive defeat for Lower Saxony across all competitions. The spirit of optimism that prevailed after coach Florian Kohfeldt was signed has turned into a small crash.
“After the game we deserved to be eliminated from the Champions League.”
Florian Kohfeldt
“It doesn’t feel like a deep valley. I’m just disappointed,” said the VfL coach. “I wouldn’t speak of a crisis yet. But we’ve lined up too many performances that weren’t enough to score.”
Kohfeldt exchanges cheerfully
The successor to Mark van Bommel exchanged almost half of the starting XI against Lille. Striker Lukas Nmecha was absent anyway. To do this, the coach compared to the 0: 3 bankruptcy at Mainz 05 also national player Ridle Baku, striker Dodi Lukebakio, defender John Anthony Brooks and goalkeeper Pavao Pervan on the bench. Regular goalkeepers Koen Casteels, Luka Waldschmidt, Yannick Gerhardt, Sebastiaan Bornauw and Kevin Mbabu were allowed to play.
Lille countered sedate “wolves”
The so whirled “wolves” had a hard time against the French, who acted like crazy. The Lower Saxony could often not keep up with the pace of the guests. Exemplary to marvel at the 0: 1 in the eleventh minute: After a VfL corner, Lille countered irresistibly with few contacts and a lot of speed in front of the Wolfsburg goal, where Burak Yilmaz ultimately executed ice cold.
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Everything would have been fine again if Waldschmidt’s long-range shot hadn’t missed the guests’ goal by a hair’s breadth just a minute later. As it was, the home side chased after the early goal without really embarrassing Lille.
Icon is hard to hold
On the other hand, it was child’s play for Jonathan Ikoné with VfL coverage. Again and again the man with the number ten danced relatively unmolested through the Wolfsburg defensive rows. In the 53rd minute it was only thanks to Casteel’s strong save that the Lille attacker did not mark the 2-0.
Perplexity in Wolfsburg
And Wolfsburg? Tried, but acted much too cumbersome. Meanwhile, the French struck when they got the next chance. Jonathan David was there in the 72nd minute when the VfL defense again revealed voting problems and marked the guests’ second goal. The third was followed by Angel Gomes a little later (78th). Low blows that sat and made the perplexity in Wolfsburg ever greater.
“The point now is to force certain things by Christmas.”
Florian Kohfeldt
The game was over and the only 6,544 spectators in the VfL Stadium – a good 13,000 were allowed despite Corona requirements – were probably already thinking in their minds whether it would be in the league against VfB Stuttgart on Saturday (6.30 p.m., in the NDR Live Center ) goes up again. After all: The 1: 3 in the 89th minute by Renato Steffen against Lille was at least a small spark of hope.
Matchday 6, December 8th, 2021 9:00 p.m.
