2-0 lead is not enough – Dzeko nets equaliser in injury time

Ralf Rangnick's starting line up saw one change from the players he fielded against 1.FC Nürnberg last week. As Isaac Vorsah was still suspended and Luis Gustavo preferred to play on his usual position in front of the due to Wolfsburg's high quality in midfield, it was Matthias Jaissle who took part in only his second game of the season in the centre of defence alongside Marvin Compper.

Conditions were tough with temperatures below zero degrees Celsius. Perhaps this was the reason why both teams required a few minutes to get their operating temperatures up, as the opening phase of this encounter was largely dominated by challenges in midfield and only few scenes in front of either goal. After eight minutes it was Vedad Ibisevic who caused for the first highlight of the game when he charged towards Diego Benaglio's goal but was unable to beat the Swiss national keeper. This remained the only noteworthy chance for quite some time, as Wolfsburg hardly managed to create a dangerous chance of their own.

The game continued in the same fashion offering very few highlights for the fans. Until Luiz Gustavo turned up and scored a real stunner. The Brazilian collected the ball well over 20 meters away from the goal and fired home to give the visitors the 1-0 lead. Hoffenheim now appeared to have shaken of the frost and it didn't take them long to add another goal to their lead. Ibisevic set up Sigurdsson who fired home to double Hoffenheim's lead in the 40th minute, just six minutes after Gustavo's opener.

Hoffenheim opted to stick to their counter attacking style, while Wolfsburg continued to act very passively. Salihovic had a decent chance with a free kick before the "Wolves" finally showed their quality in the attack. Grafite and Diego both had chances to get a goal back, but Hoffenheim's defence and Haas were able to prevent this for the time being. Hoffenheim then controlled the match but with 15 minutes left on the clock, Diego gave Wolfsburg new hope by scoring the 2-1 assisted by Grafite. Wolfsburg turned up late and put the pressure on the guests defence, which eventually was used by Dzeko to score the rather fortunate equaliser in injury time.

 

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