Jump to 12th place
Great relief at VfL Wolfsburg: The sporting crash has finally stopped. After eleven Bundesliga and Champions League games without a win, the Lower Saxony team won 4-1 (1-1) against bottom SpVgg Greuther Fürth on Sunday and initially also saved the job of their coach Florian Kohfeldt.
Returnee Max Kruse and the Danish 12-million-euro buy-in Jonas Wind didn’t attract much attention, but the only 19-year-old Belgian Aster Vranckx (photo) scored twice in the 7th and 49th minute. Maximilian Arnold (70′) and Maximilian Philipp (76′) scored the reassuring third goal and the remarkable fourth goal. Branimir Hrgota made it 1-1 in Fürth with a penalty kick (44th), which was imposed after the video referee intervened.
Wolfsburg’s head of sport, Jörg Schmadtke, had proclaimed this game a “final for everyone”. But the great hope of those responsible was always that this game will be the turning point of a season that has been completely screwed up so far and will give the club the opportunity to continue working with the highly valued Kohfeldt.
Max Kruse’s performance data per team: From St. Pauli to DFB-Elf
100 games for FC St. Pauli (2009 to 2012)
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22 goals, 16 assists
*Note: Clubs listed by the number of Kruse’s appearances. Only the first team of each club considered.
Status: 01/30/2022
94 games for Werder Bremen (2007 to 2009 & 2016 to 2019)
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35 goals, 31 assists
77 games for Borussia Mönchengladbach (2013 to 2015)
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24 goals, 22 assists
So far 45 games for Union Berlin (since 2020)
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19 goals, 12 assists
43 games for VfL Wolfsburg (2015 to 2016)
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9 goals, 12 assists
39 games for SC Freiburg (2012 to 2013)
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12 goals, 10 assists
23 games for Fenerbahce (2019 to 2020)
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7 goals, 8 assists
Instead of thinking about the coach, Schmadtke and his sports director Marcel Schäfer have massively rebuilt the squad in the past few days. The established Wout Weghorst, Josuha Guilavogui, Daniel Ginczek and Admir Mehmedi let them go. Strikers Kruse, Wind and the American Kevin Paredes were added for more than 20 million euros. As a subsidiary of the VW Group, VfL can afford such a rescue package even during the corona crisis.
Michel, Paredes & Co. All winter newcomers to the Bundesliga by market value
Tobias Raschl – From BVB to Greuther Fürth – Market value: €600,000
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Delano Burgzorg – From Heracles Almelo to Mainz 05 – Market value: €750,000
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Loan with option to buy
Sven Michel – From SC Paderborn to Union Berlin – Market value: €800,000
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Transfer fee: €2.5 million
Andreas Linde – From Molde FK to Greuther Fürth – Market value: €800,000
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free transfer
Gonzalo Castro – To Arminia Bielefeld (previously without a club) – Market value: €900,000
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free transfer
Kelian Nsona – From SM Caen to Hertha BSC – Market value: €1.2M
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Transfer fee: €500,000
Dong-jun Lee – From Ulsan Hyundai to Hertha BSC – Market value: €1.2M
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Transfer fee: €800,000
Bright Arrey-Mbi – From FC Bayern to 1. FC Köln – market value: €1.3m
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Loan until 2023
Afimico Pululu – From FC Basel to Greuther Fürth – Market value: €1.5m
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Fee: unknown
András Schäfer – From Dunajska Streda to Union Berlin – Market value: €1.6m
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Fee: unknown
Burak Ince – From Altinordu to Arminia Bielefeld – Market value: €2.2m
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Transfer fee: €500,000
Fredrik André Björkan – From Bodø/Glimt to Hertha BSC – Market value: €2.5m
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free transfer
Julian Chabot – From Sampdoria to 1. FC Köln – market value: €2.8m
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Loan until 2023 with purchase option that may become mandatory
Justin Che – From FC Dallas to TSG Hoffenheim – market value: €3m
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Loan until 2023 with option to buy
Ansgar Knauff – From BVB to Eintracht Frankfurt – market value: €3m
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Loan until 2023
Jürgen Locadia – From Brighton to VfL Bochum – market value: €3m
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free transfer
Dominique Heintz – From SC Freiburg to Union Berlin – Market value: €3m
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Transfer fee: €150,000
Max Kruse – from Union Berlin to VfL Wolfsburg – market value: €3.5m
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Transfer fee: €5 million
Kevin Paredes – From DC United to VfL Wolfsburg – Market value: €4m
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Transfer fee: €6.68 million
George Bello – From Atlanta to Bielefeld – Market value: €4m
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Transfer fee: €600,000
Tiago Tomás – From Sporting Lisbon to VfB Stuttgart – Market value: €5m
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Loan (€500,000) with purchase option (€15m)
Hugo Siquet – From Standard Liège to SC Freiburg – Market value: €7m
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Transfer fee: €4.5 million
Marc Oliver Kempf – From VfB Stuttgart to Hertha – Market value: €7m
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Transfer fee: €500,000
Jonas Wind – From Copenhagen to Wolfsburg – Market value: €7m
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Transfer fee: €12 million
Ricardo Pepi – From Dallas to FC Augsburg – market value: €8m
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Transfer fee: €16.4 million
Marvin Friedrich – From Union to Gladbach – Market value: €10m
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Transfer fee: €5.5 million
Sardar Azmoun – From Zenit. St. Petersburg to Bayer 04 – market value: €25m
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Transfer fee: €4 million
The plan to bring “a new spirit” into the cabin also worked on Sunday. Because this time Wolfsburg, who had been so harmless in the end, used their first chance to score in the only Bundesliga game of the weekend in front of only 500 spectators and were not completely unsettled by the equalizer shortly before the break. The young Vranckx scored the first two Bundesliga goals of his career and the first two Wolfsburg goals this year.
Neuer draws level with Kahn: player with the most Bundesliga victories
Top 15 with three Bayern goalkeepers…
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These players most often won with their teams in the Bundesliga
15 Mats Hummels – 231 wins in 381 games
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For BVB (179/306), Bayern Munich (52/75)
As of February 5, 2022
14 Klaus Fichtel – 232 wins in 552 games
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For Schalke 04 (188/477), Werder Bremen (44/75)
13 Gerd Muller – 232 wins in 427 games
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For Bayern Munich (232/427)
12 Franz Beckenbauer – 235 wins in 424 games
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For Bayern Munich (220/396), Hamburger SV (15/28)
11 Mirko Votava – 237 wins in 545 games
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For Werder Bremen (163/356), BVB (74/189)
10 Stefan Reuter – 238 wins in 502 games
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For BVB (149/307), 1. FC Nuremberg (37/100), Bayern Munich (52/95)
9 Claudio Pizarro – 248 wins in 490 games
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For Werder Bremen (101/250), Bayern Munich (145/224), 1. FC Cologne (2/16)
8 Sepp Maier – 249 wins in 473 games
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For Bayern Munich (249/473)
7 Lothar Matthäus – 249 wins in 464 games
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For Bayern Munich (176/302), Borussia Mönchengladbach (73/162)
6 Philipp Lahm – 250 wins in 385 games
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For Bayern Munich (222/332), VfB Stuttgart (28/53)
5 Robert Lewandowski – 267 wins in 371 games
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For Bayern Munich (181/239), BVB (85/131)
4 Manfred Kaltz – 291 wins in 581 games
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For Hamburger SV (291/581)
3 Thomas Muller – 296 wins in 404 games
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For Bayern Munich (295/403)
1 Manuel Neuer – 310 wins in 458 games
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For Bayern Munich (232/301), FC Schalke 04 (77/156)
1 Oliver Kahn – 310 wins in 557 games
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For Bayern Munich (260/429), Karlsruher SC (50/128)
Together with Kruse and Wind, the trained midfielder formed VfL’s three-man attack and stole the show from his teammates, who had only been signed a few days ago. Kruse, brought back by Union Berlin, almost gave Vranckx another goal in the 28th minute. The 33-year-old missed a big chance shortly after the break (48′).
But such opportunities and the recognizable commitment of Wolfsburg did not change the fact that this much-needed success was temporarily hanging by a thread. After both leading goals, VfL withdrew too far. And unlike in the first half of the season, the Fürthers are now a competitive and footballing respectable opponent against whom something like this can take revenge.
A header from Sebastian Griesbeck (62nd) almost made it 2-2. In the end, Wolfsburg had the luck they had so often lacked in the past three months.
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