Wednesday, December 8th, 2021
VfL’s own fans whistle
Wolfsburg’s CL season ends disastrously
A win would have been enough for VfL Wolfsburg for the round of 16 in the Champions League. But against the OSC Lille, the Bundesliga club is once again weak and is eliminated from the bottom of the table. The crisis in Lower Saxony is worsening.
For a very weak VfL Wolfsburg, the Champions League season is over after the preliminary round. The Bundesliga club lost its last and decisive group game against French champions OSC Lille 1: 3 (0: 1) and was therefore completely deserved as the bottom of the table in Group G. VfL could have qualified for the round of 16 with a win, but 36-year-old Burak Yilmaz scored 1-0 for the French in the 11th minute. Jonathan David (72nd) and Angel Gomes (78th) added two more hits. The goal by Renato Steffen (89th) shortly before the end had no effect.
“That’s not our claim,” said VfL striker Luca Waldschmidt: “We can all do more individually. Four defeats in a row are of course a bad run. The only good thing is that the Bundesliga will continue on Saturday.”
Wolfsburg continued the disappointing performance of the previous weeks in this important game and have already suffered their fourth consecutive defeat in national and international competitions. The fact that, with 6544 fans, not even half of the 13,281 spectators allowed due to corona came into the stadium, also contributed to the desolation of this evening. Especially since a clearly audible part commented on the uninspired appearance with whistles.
There was a lot at stake in those 90 minutes. Progress in the Champions League has enormous sporting, financial and, especially for the VfL parent company Volkswagen, also a high advertising value. Almost 20 million euros in entry fee and bonuses were already taken by the “wolves” in this group phase. A win against Lille and reaching the round of 16 would have added another 12.4 million. “For us, this competition is anything but a matter of course,” said Supervisory Board Chairman Frank Witter. VfL had only survived the group stage once in the 2015/16 season and reached the quarter-finals against Real Madrid.
Change yes, change no
It became apparent early on against Lille that it would be difficult this time. After just ten uneventful minutes, the Wolfsburg counterattacked after their own corner. Via goalkeeper Ivo Grbic, right-back Zeki Celik and the unstoppable Jonathan Ikoné, the ball landed at center forward Yilmaz and in the goal.
VfL responded only seconds later with a placed long-range shot from Luca Waldschmidt (12th), but otherwise made an appearance that never did justice to the great importance of this game. At the back they made numerous mistakes in the game structure because of the sheer nervousness. There was a lack of speed, ideas and, above all, courage at the front.
Before this game, coach Florian Kohfeldt had exchanged almost half of his starting eleven and surprisingly left Ridle Baku and Dodi Lukebakio out alongside the suspended international striker Lukas Nmecha. The apathy of the games at FC Sevilla (0: 2) and FSV Mainz 05 (0: 3) did not drive the coach of his team out with this measure.
At the beginning of the second half, Kohfeldt brought the Belgian Lukebakio, later Baku and the French Jerome Roussillon. But it didn’t get much better or more powerful. The fast Ikoné could have made everything clear in the 53rd minute. VfL did not have any chances of this quality in the second round either. And so after 90 minutes there was the fourth competitive defeat in a row.