Daniel Caligiuri’s monstrous strike pushed VfL Wolfsburg above Champions League rivals Borussia Mönchengladbach as they brought Jos Luhukay’s Hertha BSC down to earth after last week’s humiliation of relegation threatened Hamburg.
The game started quite openly, a through ball from Per Ciljan Skjelbred found Sami Allagui, though it was too much a stretch for the 27 year old, Benaglio collecting the loose ball, before a penalty shout arose for VfL, new signing Kevin de Bruyne tumbling just inside the box near Seb Langkamp though referee Marco Fritz ignored the Belgian’s pleas.
Rumoured Arsenal target Maxi Arnold then hit the side netting before a delightful piece of skill from de Bruyne resulted in a wayward cross. The home fans would be sent into raptures minutes later, Sami Allagui doing well to slip the ball through to Skjelbred, the midfielder’s initial attempt blocked hastily by the Wolves defence but the Norwegian reacted quickly to control and fire past the helpless Diego Benaglio in goal.
Wolfsburg attempted to claw their way back into the game, ex-Dortmund winger Ivan Perisic’s effort was straight at Thomas Kraft much to the relief of the Hertha stopper, before de Bruyne found himself in a great position to score but his shot was blocked before firing over at the second attempt.
Wolfsburg’s hard work to get back into the game was almost undone by a stupid thoughtless mistake by holding midfielder Slobodan Medojevic, the Serbian trying to play the ball out of defence but instead gifting the ball to Colombian forward Adrian Ramos. The 28 year old tried for the spectacular but his attempted chip went wide. Patrick Ochs then did well to intercept as Allagui was set to unleash after Marcel Ndjeng’s cross.
The final action of the first 45′ was a dangerous costless kick for Swiss set piece specialist Ricardo Rodriguez. The elusive Arnold was fouled 25 yards from goal, but much to the away supporters disappointment Rodriguez did not deliver the goods, the costless kick going harmlessly wide.
Hertha’s tactic for the second half seemed to revolve around sitting back and countering though Hecking had corrected Wolfsburg’s issue of being suspect positionally wise in defence which was a problem for VfL.
Wolfsburg finally broke BSC’s resolve in the 58th minute, fantastic work from Kevin de Bruyne earned a corner and from Rodriguez’s ball in, the unmarked Robin Knoche nodded past the onlooking Kraft.
Knoche’s equaliser had brought the game to life. Wolfsburg played with much more intent, de Bruyne being their most creative hub and it was his vision which located Arnold, Hertha immediately closing the starlet down but his clever lay off found right back Ochs, but strong defending (and some brilliant skill to manoeuvre himself away from the attacking threat of Ochs and Arnold) from Tolga Cigerci instigated a counter attack with Allagui picking up the ball, his diagonal pass finding Ndjeng but as Ramos readied himself to put Hertha in the lead again, a fantastic interception from goalscorer Knoche halted the move.
Hertha kept persisting in chasing to secure a win, Skjelbred’s forward header fell to the outstanding Cigerci whose through ball found Ramos but his hesistance allowed Timm Klose, in the team for the suspended giant Naldo to make a superb sliding tackle, then a hopeful 30 yard blast from Cigerci forced a save from Benaglio who saw it late.
All VfL’s hard work defensively paid off in 78th minute. Substitute Daniel Caligiuri (who had arrived onto the scene for Perisic, who again had a dull game) received the ball from de Bruyne, cut inside past Lustenberger and unleashed a simply unstoppable drive into the left hand top corner past the outstretched glove of the despairing Kraft. The former SC Freiburg man’s 1st goal for Dieter Hecking’s side and in over a year in open play and in style too.
Hertha drastically increased the pressure on Wolfsburg and their best chance before the final whistle sounded was a costless kick from the Brazilian Ronny. The brother of Gladbach’s Raffael’s shot came off one of the defenders but fell to Adrian Ramos. The Colombian did superbly to not only keep the ball in play but cross into the box, arriving at rapid speed though. As Anis Ben-Hatira, just back from injury headed towards goal it bounced against the bar and over. You could sense that today was simply not Hertha’s day, and as the full time whistle blew Jos Luhukay’s side trudged off the Olympiastadion pitch in disappointment. Next up for both sides? For the home side from today’s encounter it’s a trip to Stuttgart, not the most difficult side to be facing after a morale draining loss and a good chance to return to winning ways. For Wolfsburg they have a much tougher tie against Leverkusen, albeit at home. Hecking’s side rise to fifth whilst BSC drop to eighth.