A wonderful Ivica Olic (r.) goal turned out to be the winner for VfL Wolfsburg against Borussia Dortmund
A wonderful Ivica Olic (r.) goal turned out to be the winner for VfL Wolfsburg against Borussia Dortmund

Olic stunner defeats Dortmund

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Wolfsburg - A spectacular Ivica Olic goal handed VfL Wolfsburg a deserved 2-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund at the Volkswagen Arena.

End-to-end opening

Marco Reus gave BVB the lead on the stroke of half-time with a curling free-kick from the edge of the penalty area, but Wolfsburg hit back in the second half courtesy of Ricardo Rodriguez’s speculative effort. Olic then fired a curling shot past Roman Weidenfeller to secure a fourth straight win for the Wolves.

The hosts were almost caught out early on when Mats Hummels hit a long ball over the top of the Wolfsburg backline for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to run on to, but the Gabon international’s cross just eluded the onrushing Reus. Hummels went close to breaking the deadlock himself with a close-range header that flew just over the crossbar, before Aubameyang scuffed an effort past the post from a tight angle.

Having survived that early pressure, Wolfsburg began to find their rhythm and almost took the lead when former BVB forward Ivan Perisic got on the end of Patrick Ochs’ cross from the left, but the Croatian’s header flew agonisingly wide of Roman Weidenfeller’s post. The Wolves duo combined once more five minutes later, but Perisic again failed to hit the target from close range as the hosts started to gain the upper hand.

Trademark Reus


Ochs then fired straight at Weidenfeller from the edge of the box, before Marcel Schmelzer went close at the other end with a thunderous volley from 20 yards that whistled over the bar. Moments before half-time, BVB took the lead in spectacular fashion. Henrikh Mkhitaryan was felled just outside the area by Ochs and Reus duly stepped up to send a beautifully-struck free-kick past the despairing Diego Benaglio.

Aubameyang wasted a good opportunity to double the visitors’ lead at the start of the second half and the 23-year-old was left to rue his profligacy moments later. Rodriguez’s inswinging free-kick from the right-hand side evaded everyone and nestled in the corner of Weidenfeller’s goal to level the scores. The goal seemed to leave BVB stunned and Wolfsburg twice went close to adding to their lead, but Weidenfeller was equal to efforts from Rodriguez and Olic.

Olic beauty wins it


The Dortmund custodian could do little about Olic’s next effort, however. The veteran striker picked the ball up on the corner of the area, cut inside Schmelzer and unleashed an unstoppable, curling effort into the back of the net via the inside of the post to put the Wolves in front. The goal was no less than Dieter Hecking’s team deserved for their second half efforts, but Reus almost equalised with a carbon copy of his first free-kick. This time, however, his shot cannoned off the angle of post and bar.

Wolfsburg could have added a third in stoppage time as Perisic fired just wide from inside the penalty area, while Robert Lewandowski and Mkhitaryan both had efforts blocked. The home side's defence held firm, however, to hand Borussia their second defeat of the season and lift themselves up to fourth in the table.

Matthew Howarth

Line-ups and statistics

Enjoy this video on Dortmund's Polish record breaker Robert Lewandowski, courtesy of the official Bundesliga YouTube channel: