Goalless in Gelsenkirchen

VfL Wolfsburg earned their sixth draw of the season on Friday night, with head coach Niko Kovac’s men held 0-0 away to FC Schalke 04, in front of a crowd of 60,836 at the Veltins-Arena.

The biggest chance for VfL came early on, with Maximilian Arnold failing to convert from the penalty spot in the ninth minute. The result leaves the Wolves seventh in the table.

VfL will next be in action on Saturday 18 February (kick-off: 15.30 CET), when Champions League round-of-16 qualifiers RB Leipzig make the trip to the Volkswagen Arena.

Niko Kovac: “The first half was the worst we’ve played this season. We weren’t aggressive – we were slow and ponderous and doubted ourselves. If we’d put the penalty away, things might obviously have been different. Instead of that, the match panned out in a way that we didn’t want it to. The second half was a little better, but still not great. We didn’t deserve to come away with any more than a point tonight.”

Thomas Reis: “Things just really didn’t go our way. We were up against a Wolfsburg side that was very physical and played a style that suits that aspect. I’m really pleased with the shape of the team – they were great tonight and absolutely gave it their all. It’s just really annoying that we didn’t manage to score a goal.”

FC Schalke 04: Fährmann – Brunner (63‘ Aydin), Yoshida, Jens, Uronen – Kral, Zalazar, Krauß, Kozuki (73‘ Drexler), Skarke (46‘ Bülter) – Frey (87‘ Terodde)

Subs: Schwolow (GK), Matriciani, Ouwejan, Balanta, Karaman

VfL Wolfsburg: Casteels – Baku, Bornauw (53’ Lacroix), van de Ven, Otavio – Arnold (87’ Guilavogui), Gerhardt (53’ F. Nmecha) – Wimmer (53’ Paredes), Svanberg, Kaminski – Wind

Subs: Pervan (GK), Cozza, Marmoush, L. Nmecha, Waldschmidt

Yellow cards: Zalazar / Wimmer, Gerhardt, Svanberg, Guilavogui

Referee: Benjamin Brand (Unterspiesheim)

Attendance: 60,836 at Veltins-Arena