VfL Wolfsburg played out a goalless draw with newly promoted Serie A side Como 1907 at their training camp in Austria. A promising performance from Ralph Hasenhüttl’s charges against a physical Italian outfit was marred by an injury to Joakim Maehle, who was forced off in the 68th minute after suffering damage to his ankle in a challenge with an opponent.
The Wolves took to the field without Algerian summer signing Mohamed Amoura as well as Kilian Fischer, David Odogu, Mattias Svanberg, Aster Vranckx and Tiago Tomas, whose workload is being monitored.
VfL fashioned two golden opportunities early on, but Jakub Kaminski (5’) and Kevin Behrens (10’) were unable to make the most of them. Hasenhüttl’s team continued to dominate and went close again before half-time through Sebastiaan Bornauw’s header (17’), Maximilian Arnold’s free-kick (28’) and Kaminski’s blocked effort.
The Wolves were dealt a blow in the 68th minute, when Maehle was forced off with an ankle injury following a robust challenge. Como continued with their physical approach for the remainder of the second half, but there were no further chances for either side.
Ralph Hasenhüttl: “That didn’t look good for Joakim – we’ll have to wait and see. There was a very tough challenge in the first half that could have resulted in a red card. I actually told [the referee] he should leave the player on. We have nothing to gain playing 11 against ten in a friendly. That was followed by two or three similar situations. It’s not what you want to see in a game like this. They were close to overstepping the line towards the end. Apart from the injury, it was one of our best pre-season tests in footballing terms – particularly in the first half. We did very well and had several chances which we weren’t able to put away.”
VfL Wolfsburg: Grabara (46‘ Müller) – Lacroix, Bornauw (63’ Amoako), Zesiger (63’ Jenz) – Baku (46‘ Maehle, 68‘ Braun), Arnold, Dardai (46‘ Gerhardt), Kaminski (63‘ Cozza), Majer (63‘ Bröger) – Behrens (46‘ Wind), Wimmer (63‘ Benedict)
Subs: Klinger (GK)
Como 1907 (XI): Reina – Iovino, Goldaniga, Barba, Moreno – Mazzittelli, Braunöder, Strefezza, Verdi, da Cunha – Cutrone
Subs: Audero (GK), Bolchini (GK), Vigorito (GK), Gioacchini, Nielsen, Pisano, Biggi, Cardozo, Mazzaglia, Chinetti, Andrealli, Cassandro
Goals: –
Yellow cards: Lacroix / Goldaniga
Attendance: 350 at ATV-Arena, Irdning (Austria)