The only Wolfsburg who stayed calm after the final whistle was Florian Kohfeldt. All the players, substitutes, supervisors and spectators around him burst into loud cheers. Under his new coach, VfL Wolfsburg also achieved their first victory of this Champions League season on Tuesday evening. After the 2: 1 (1: 1) win against leaders FC Red Bull Salzburg, everything is possible again for the Bundesliga club in group G in the preliminary round. The German international Ridle Baku had put the “wolves” in the lead in the fourth minute in front of the national coach and grandstand guest Hansi Flick. After the equalizer with a directly converted free kick by Maximilian Wöber (30th), Lukas Nmecha’s winning goal (60th) fell exactly at the time when VfL was actually acting far too passively.
“We had fire in our stomach today. This victory means a lot,” said winning goal scorer Nmecha in an interview with DAZN. “We just got our self-confidence back,” said the 22-year-old – also as praise for new coach Kohfeldt. Before the last two group games at FC Sevilla and against OSC Lille, the Wolfsburg team can now even be group winners. In any case, the first results of the Champions League debutant Kohfeldt are remarkable: After eight competitive games without a win and the separation from Mark van Bommel, his successor now has two wins against the Bundesliga top club Bayer Leverkusen and the Austrian series champions from Salzburg. “I feel joy for a number of reasons,” said the new coach. “I am happy that we have made the group open again and that the team is continuing on the path that it started in Leverkusen.”
Teenager Adeyemi disappoints himself
The effect this coaching change has had so far can also be seen in comparison to the 3-1 defeat in the first leg in Salzburg two weeks ago. In Austria, VfL was still temporarily overrun. However, Kohfeldt strengthened Wolfsburg’s defenses so much in just one week that Salzburg were again dominant, but this time they were rarely dangerous. The most noticeable attacker on the pitch was Salzburg’s German international Karim Adeyemi. The 19-year-old striker, who was also closely observed by Flick, missed two clear chances at the beginning of both halves (2nd / 50th). “I was extremely disappointed in myself and rightly so,” said Adeyemi self-criticizing and quarreling with the lack of opportunities. “It wasn’t that good, and it felt like every shot went in at Wolfsburg.”
Wolfsburg’s striker Wout Weghorst couldn’t keep up in front of 16,112 spectators. The Dutchman was back in the starting line-up immediately after the end of his two-week corona quarantine, but was only staged dangerously in the penalty area in the 36th minute. For the fact that the Wolfsburg had to win this game, they actually appeared far too seldom in the front. Nmecha’s winning goal fell out of nowhere at the time. Just five minutes later, the U21 European champions even had the chance to increase to 3: 1. This time, however, he shot over the gate from close range. VfL could afford that because the compact defense network in Kohfeldt’s new 3-4-3 system stayed tight until the final whistle.