Push costs Hoffenheim victory
The Bundesliga game in Wolfsburg was also interrupted
February 4, 2024, 5:31 p.m
Football fans’ protests against the investor entry also reach Wolfsburg. The Bundesliga game against TSG Hoffenheim had to be briefly interrupted because objects were thrown onto the pitch. After that, goals are scored without there being a winner.
VfL Wolfsburg is treading water in the Bundesliga – and coach Niko Kovač is coming under increasing pressure. Even in the crisis duel against the also weak TSG Hoffenheim, the Wolves couldn’t get past a fair 2:2 (0:1). In the fourth game of the year it was the fourth draw. Managing director Marcel Schäfer expressed his confidence in the coach before the game and said that together they believed in the turnaround.
Maximilian Beier (6th) and Grischa Prömel (66th) scored after a hair-raising Wolfsburg setup error in front of an official crowd of 22,917 spectators for the guests, who have been waiting for a win for six Bundesliga games. Substitute Lovro Majer (59th/70th, penalty kick) responded twice for VfL, who had previously played 1-1 three times in a row.
“Well, a draw. Okay,” said TSG striker Wout Weghorst, once in Wolfsburg, on DAZN: “We just can’t win games. We don’t have the key to victories at the moment.”
The game began with minutes of shrill whistles from the Wolfsburg fan block. Under the motto “We don’t give a damn about your deal,” the supporters protested against the commercialization of German professional football. In the middle of the boycott of sentiment, his own team also caused displeasure – Sebastiaan Bornauw allowed himself to be duped by Beier early in the game, and the 21-year-old finished dry for his eighth goal of the season.
Prömel punishes Wolves misunderstanding
Even Kevin Behrens, who was only signed by Union Berlin on Wednesday and was in the starting line-up, was unable to prevent Wolves from making a false start. “He’s a player who gives us something that we don’t have in this form at the moment: the penetration, the physicality, the power,” Kovač enthused – but there was initially little of that to be seen with Behrens.
At least his new colleagues weren’t shocked by the deficit. The busy top attacker Jonas Wind failed at the post (19th) and then twice at the strong TSG keeper Oliver Baumann. After about 30 minutes, referee Florian Badstübner stopped the game because VfL fans had thrown small objects onto the field. Shortly afterwards things continued. In terms of sport, things remained manageable.
VfL had recently played 1-1 three times, each time against teams from the bottom of the table. After almost an hour, Joker Lovro Majer set up the same result with a low shot following preparatory work from Behrens. Prömel then took advantage of a major misunderstanding between Wolves keeper Koen Casteels and captain Maximilian Arnold, before Majer hit back again in what was now a spectacular game with a justified penalty kick. Stanley N’Soki pushed the Croatian in the air when he attempted to head the ball.