VfL Wolfsburg suffered the next setback among the young footballers from RB Salzburg and continued their negative run in the Champions League. The team of coach Mark van Bommel lost to the Austrian hosts around the strong German national player Karim Adeyemi and the double scorer Noah Okafor on Wednesday well deserved 1: 3 (1: 1).
The 19-year-old Adeyemi brought the team of coach Matthias Jaissle into the lead in the 3rd minute. Lukas Nmecha – together with Adeyemi, U21 European champion in May – equalized with his head for Wolfsburg after a quarter of an hour. But Okafor, who was also only 21 years old, made the decision in favor of the hosts in front of 29,520 spectators with a double pack (65th / 77th).
While Salzburg consolidated its top position in Group G with seven points, advancement for the again disappointing Wolfsburg with only two points is becoming an increasingly difficult project. On November 2nd, a win against Austria’s series champions is urgently needed in the next game. After a very good start to the season, the Lower Saxony have not won seven competitions in a row. In Salzburg there was a lack of penetration at the front without the top striker Wout Weghorst, who was infected with the corona virus. And in defense, VfL afforded several lapses of concentration.
That was already evident in the early stages: The Wolfsburg team hadn’t really gotten into the game yet, they were already behind. After a great pass from Salzburg’s Nicolas Seiwald, VfL defender Kevin Mbabu was taken by surprise by Adeyemi. This is currently allegedly from Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund courted talent took the ball in full swing and gave Wolfsburg goalkeeper Koen Casteels no chance. In the years that followed, Salzburg didn’t give the guests much time to catch their breath. With their youthful vigor, their speed and their high level of pressing, the talented squad kept embarrassing the VfL defense. The offensive game of Wolfsburg, however, hardly took place at all. The Bundesliga team was still lucky when Okafor skilfully picked up the ball after another outstanding long pass from Seiwald, but only hit the crossbar of the VfL goal with his shot from seven meters.
The Wolfsburg equalization by Nmecha was all the more surprising: after a strong corner from Maximilian Arnold, the Weghorst substitute stood and scored his first Champions League goal. After that, the team, which coach Mark van Bommel had changed to four positions compared to the 2-0 draw in the league at Union Berlin, got the game and opponents under better control. The Wolfsburg fell back more and came much better into the duels. Nmecha (39th) even had the opportunity to take the lead, but was blocked at the last moment by RB defender Maximilian Wöber. Shortly before the break, Salzburg also had a chance when VfL keeper Casteels saved against Luka Sucic.
After the change, the Salzburg team increased the pressure again. Adeyemi (57.) by heel after a corner kick and shortly afterwards Sucic, whose shot was blocked by Wolfsburg’s Jerome Roussillon, failed. Eight minutes later, the agile Okafor was more successful, who took advantage of a confusing situation after a corner kick. And the Swiss even topped it up again twelve minutes later. Up until then there had been little to see of Wolfsburg – and afterwards nothing at all.