VfL Wolfsburg clinched the next runaway victory in the Bundesliga against Hertha BSC at the start of 2023. The “Wolves” were already 3-0 up at half-time against completely overwhelmed Hertha and finally won 5-0 in Berlin.
Mattias Svanberg gave the guests from Wolfsburg the lead on Tuesday (January 24th, 2023) after a cross from Patrick Wimmer from the right with a nice direct acceptance from about twelve meters (4th minute). Maximilian Arnold increased the hand penalty (31st). Just three minutes later, Jonas Wind also scored the third shot on target from the “Wolves” in the box of Hertha keeper Oliver Christensen.
Ridle Baku also entered the top scorers list with almost 20 minutes to go (73′). Omar Marmoush, who only came on in the 78th minute, marked Wolfsburg’s next convincing result with a fine dribbling just before the end of the game (86th).
“I wish the club that they get out of there. My heart is in Hertha.”said Wolfsburg coach Niko Kovac, who was delighted with his team’s performance, “that was a round performance in an away game”.
Wolfsburg again with great goal hunger
Three days after the 6-0 thrashing in Freiburg, the “Wolves” showed great thirst for goals again. And again Wimmer was involved in the early first goal – this time not as a goal scorer, but as an assist provider. The young Austrian served a free-kick from the right side, placed in the back of the penalty area, where Svanberg took off from the turn and sank into the hosts’ goal on the bottom left.
Hertha’s Rogel with a lot of luck
There was excitement in the Olympic Stadium after about half an hour when Agustín Rogel, as the last man, brought down Wimmer, who was rushing towards the Berlin goal, with a body check. The Wolfsburg fans demanded a dismissal, but referee Tobias Reichel left it with a yellow card. Arnold wanted to throw the free kick that was due over the wall, but Dodi Lukébakio, as part of the Berlin Wall, raised his arm far too high and clearly deflected the ball: penalty kick. Arnold executed a powerful half-up on the right.
Just three minutes later, the doorbell rang again in Berlin: After losing the ball, Svanberg steered the ball further to the wind, which gave Hertha goalkeeper Christensen no chance with a well-considered lob.
Black switches – with relative success
Hertha coach Sandro Schwarz made three changes in the second half of the game: Rogel, Maximilian Mittelstädt and Ivan Šunjić had to make way. The calculation only partially worked out: Hertha didn’t allow any more top-class goal chances from Lower Saxony and acted more intensively. However, only one good scoring chance resulted from Berlin’s efforts when Filip Uremović failed to use precision with a header (65′).
Sixth Wolfsburg victory in a row
The “Wolves” were different: When an attack was made from the left, the Berliners couldn’t get hold of the ball, Svanberg crossed across the penalty area to the right side, where Baku stormed in and volley completed with right flat. In the final phase, Marc-Oliver Kempf artistically saved with a high handball leg against a header from Luca Waldschmidt, who had just been substituted on. But then Marmoush put the final point with a fine individual performance (86th).
VfL Wolfsburg worked their way up to sixth place in the table with their sixth three in a row, while Hertha continued to eke out their existence in the penultimate place.
Hertha invites you to the Berlin derby
On match day 18, Hertha BSC will host 1. FC Union in the Berlin derby (Saturday, January 28, 2023 at 3:30 p.m.). At the same time, Wolfsburg are fighting for points away from Bremen.
