In a hard-fought neighborhood duel, Bundesliga side VfL Wolfsburg only barely reached the round of 16 in the DFB Cup. In a long open game, coach Niko Kovac’s team won 2-1 (1-1) against second division promoted Eintracht Braunschweig.
The Swede Mattias Svanberg gave the guests the lead in the eighth minute with a low shot. Maurice Multhaup, who lobbed the VfL goalkeeper Koen Casteels in the 40th minute, equalized in the meantime. Pole Jakub Kaminski scored the second Wolfsburg goal (65th).
“We went one round and we are all happy,” said sports director Marcel Schäfer at “Sky”: “We all know what the cup is like. Braunschweig did it very well and threw everything in.”
“It wasn’t a nice game, but it was a game with a lot of emotions. The main thing is to keep going, that’s what counts. The goal we conceded was very unfortunate, but we came back in the second half,” said Ridle Baku.
In front of 22,000 spectators in the sold-out Eintracht Stadium, VfL quickly took control of the pitch after a wild initial phase. Goalscorer Svanberg in particular could hardly be stopped by the hosts and almost scored for the second time in the 20th minute. The 1:1 then fell out of nowhere, but Braunschweig went into the half-time break with confidence.
Coach Michael Schiele’s team had to continue the encounter with weak personnel. Immanuel Pherai, who had been very conspicuous up to that point, had to leave the field after just under half an hour, apparently due to adductor problems.
Kovac had put national player Lukas Nmecha, who was recently plagued by knee problems, back in the starting lineup. But like last weekend in the Bundesliga game against Borussia Mönchengladbach, the classic center forward hardly bonded with his team-mates in the first 45 minutes.
After the change of sides, the eleventh team from the second division, who knocked out the first division side Hertha BSC in the first round, initially took the tailwind from the final phase of the first half with them. Braunschweig was now better in the duels, which Kovac acknowledged several times with an angry shake of the head.
The match remained exciting because neither team speculated on extra time, but wanted to force the decision in regular time. In the 62nd minute, the home side were only a few centimeters short when a shot from substitute Luc Ihorst grazed the outside of the post.
On the other hand, Nmecha improved and was instrumental in the second Wolfsburg goal. But Braunschweig didn’t give up and didn’t let the guests catch their breath.