Wolfsburg have been able to keep pace with Bayern Munich after managing a 3-1 win over Hannover. This has been followed by an even impressive victory over French outfit Lille in the Europa League. Despite being in this European competition which has a lot of matches, Wolfsburg have not allowed it to distract the domestic campaign. Even more impressive was the fact that Wolfsburg had to play with 10 men for the last 35 minutes of the match. Vieirinha scored just at the stroke of half-time while Ricardo Rodriguez scored a brace to ensure that Wolfsburg appear in the next stage of the competition.
This follows several months of positivity for coach Dieter Hecking, who has branded this performance against Lille has one of the best his team has given under his regime. Hecking says that the team was able to get a satisfactory result not because of the individual brilliance, but because they worked as a team. Josuha Guilavogui will be suspended for the last 16 matches starting in the second half of the season. He received a second yellow card in the 55th minute, butHecking will be glad that it is just one match suspension rather than three matches for a straight red card.
“I don’t think we won because of an individual rather than collective play.We played more as a team during the second half. We need to keep going ahead, to develop our game and to learn. We can with these kinds of complicated games. That’s important for the rest of the season in the Bundesliga and Europe. Whether we score with a penalty or a free-kick, it shows that we have some players of great qualities. Overall, the team played very well. Having players suspended is a part of the game during European competitions,” saidHecking.