VfL Wolfsburg remains unbeaten this Bundesliga season and even set a club record for the championship team from 2009 with two late goals by Wout Weghorst. The 2: 1 (0: 0) victory against Eintracht Frankfurt was the eleventh game in a row that the Wolves were without defeat on Friday evening. Only Felix Magath’s surprise champions and the cup-winning team around Kevin de Bruyne have managed such a series in Wolfsburg in the 2014/15 season.
With his eight and nine goals of the season, Weghorst (76th minute / penalty / 88th) turned the gap in the final phase with another penalty from Bas Dost in the 63rd minute. With the fifth win of the season, VfL even jumped into a Champions League place for one night.
The Frankfurters had not only traveled to Lower Saxony without their striker André Silva, but also without their top management. Because of a positive corona test, the entire three-person board of directors of Eintracht Frankfurt Fußball AG went into quarantine to be on the safe side, the “Bild” newspaper reported. Silva was absent from the squad due to muscular problems. The striker duel with Wolfsburg’s Wout Weghorst was therefore canceled.
Deprived of its most dangerous weapon, Eintracht initially only put itself far behind. At first, this strategy only worked with a lot of luck, because VfL started very powerfully and confidently – but did not take advantage of their chances.
In the fourth minute, the Swiss Kevin Mbabu dribbled between two Frankfurters and passed the ball flat into the penalty area. Maximilian Philipp did not finish there. Only five minutes later, Xaver Schlager hit the post.
But then it took half an hour until the next big chance (Philipp / 38th), because the Frankfurters adjusted to this offensive urge better and better. In addition, VfL lacked important offensive players with Admir Mehmedi and Renato Steffen, so that the new international Ridle Baku, who was actually signed as a right-back, played as a winger this time.
The game slipped further and further from the hands of Wolfsburg in the second half. They were already very lucky in the 55th minute when Filip Kostic ran up to goalkeeper Koen Casteels alone, but shot the ball over the goal.
A short time later then the deficit: VfL defender John Anthony Brooks knocked over Martin Hinteregger from Frankfurt in the penalty area. Referee Markus Schmidt did not see this foul at first, but decided on a penalty after a hint from his video assistant. Dost did not miss this opportunity. He had already scored 48 goals in 116 competitive games between 2012 and 2016 for Wolfsburg. Wolfsburg showed again morale.
Philipp shot from close range in the penalty area against the outstretched arm of Stefan Ilsanker – which Schmidt immediately punished with a penalty. Just two minutes later, it was almost 2: 1, but Eintracht captain David Abraham cleared after a shot by substitute Bartosz Bialek on the line for his defeated goalkeeper Kevin Trapp. What Bialek failed to do, goal scorer Weghorst did two minutes before the end.
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