A Kevin de Bruyne-inspired Wolfsburg huffed and puffed their way to a 3-0 victory on Sunday afternoon against SC Freiburg to remain 11 points behind league leaders Bayern Munich.

Showing no signs of any European hangover following a comprehensive 3-1 victory over Inter Milan on Thursday evening, Wolfsburg came flying out of the blocks, eager to gain an immediate upper hand in front of the home crowd at the Volkswagen Arena.

Just 8 minutes in and Roman Burki was called into action, getting down well to prevent Joshua Guilavogui from opening the scoring with a flicked attempt. The form front man Bas Dost did well to get on the end of Vierinha's low cross from the right hand side minutes later, but his effort from a tight angle was unable to test Burki.

Then, in the 19th minute, the Wolves took the lead. A mistake from Marco Torrejon provided the enigmatic de Bruyne with time and space, and the Belgian made no mistake firing home at Burki's near post from 13 yards out. The clinical nature of this Wolfsburg side has been particularly evident since the turn of the year, and de Bruyne has been at the heart of all things good for this Wolfsburg side.

He went close again minutes later with a rasping daisy cutter, but Burki had his angles right and saw the ball wide of his post. Finally, 30 minutes in the timid Freiburg team came out of it's shell. Christian Gunter's vicious 30 yard strike required stopping from Diego Benaglio, and from the resulting corner, Mike Frantz really should have levelled affairs, jabbing wide with the goal gaping.

Caliguri & Vierinha both had efforts from distance to remind Freiburg of the impending threats posed by Wolfsburg, but at half time the scoreline remained 1-0 in favour of the hosts.

The second half began in a similar manner to the first. A whipped free kick from de Bruyne caused havoc in the Freiburg area, but Timm Klose was unable to provide the finish to match the delivery. Freiburg failed to sufficiently threaten Benaglio's goal, with drives from Sorg and Mehmedi representing their only chances of note in the second period.

In the 78th minute, de Bruyne burst through the Freiburg defence and was felled by the onrushing Burki, and a penalty was awarded to the disbelief of many members of Freiburg's squad. Undeterred of the controversy, the reliable Ricardo Rodriguez stepped forward to sot home comfortably and double the advantage, effectively sealing the three points.

Maxi Arnold was introduced along with a host of other substitutes from both teams, in effort to keep things fresh. And it was he who connected with de Bruyne's 85th minute centre to score Wolfsburg's third and seal a fantastic week for the Wolves.