Winning start under Hasenhüttl

VfL Wolfsburg earned all three points in their first competitive game under new head coach Ralph Hasenhüttl, beating Werder Bremen 2-0 away on Saturday afternoon. Maxence Lacroix (45’+4) and Lovro Majer (84’) got the goals in front of 41,500 fans at the sold-out Wohninvest-Weserstadion, bringing an end to an 11-game winless run in the Bundesliga for the Green-and-Whites. Lacroix (76’) and Bremen’s Anthony Jung (43’) were each shown a red card for a profession foul.

The result keeps VfL 14th in the table ahead of their next fixture, at home to Borussia Mönchengladbach at the Volkswagen Arena on Sunday 7 April (kick-off 17:30 CEST).

Ralph Hasenhüttl: “Today was exactly the intense afternoon we expected against a team that plays good football. At the start, we were lucky to stay in the game when Pavao Pervan made a great save. Then came the situation with the red card, which I think was okay to give, just like ours was. When we scored just before half-time, it changed lots of things. In the second half we were a long way from doing what we wanted to do. We allowed Bremen back into the game with our red card. Something like that can quickly change a game. But I think the three substitutions we made after that gave us the decisive quality we needed to secure this very, very important win.”

Ole Werner: “We played well for 35 minutes, got into the final third well and had good chances, but we lacked the ruthlessness to put them away. As has often been the case in recent weeks, we weren’t clinical enough in the decisive moments. You can’t win in the Bundesliga with that kind of inconsistency. It was obviously difficult after the red card, but we shouldn’t have fallen behind. With a man down, we wanted to defend well against a team with a great deal of quality. We even had every opportunity to come back after Wolfsburg’s red card, but then we conceded again. At the end of the day, we deserved to come away with nothing today.”

Werder Bremen: Zetterer – Veljkovic, Friedl, Jung – Agu (88. Opitz), Alvero (79‘ Hansen-Aaröen), Deman, Schmid (88‘ Imasuen), Bittencourt (67‘ Groß) – Ducksch, Woltemade (67‘ Keita)

Subs: Pavlenka (GK), Malatini, Pieper, Röcker, Imasuen, Opitz

VfL Wolfsburg: Pervan – Maehle, Lacroix, Bornauw, Zesiger – Baku (60‘ Majer), Arnold, Gerhardt (83‘ Vranckx), Paredes – Behrens (82‘ Fischer), Sarr (83‘ Wind)

Subs: Klinger (GK), Jenz, Cerny, Svanberg, Tomas

Goals: 0-1 Lacroix (45‘+4), 0-2 Majer (84‘)

Yellow cards: Agu, Ducksch, Alvero, Hansen-Aaröen / Baku, Bornauw, Zesiger, Paredes

Red cards: Jung (43’), Lacroix (76’)

Referee: Sascha Stegemann (Niederkassel)

Attendance: 41,500 at Wohninvest-Weserstadion (sold out)