Wolfsburg stretch unbeaten run to seven in Freiburg
Freiburg - VfL Wolfsburg extended their unbeaten run to seven Bundesliga games courtesy of a 3-0 win away to SC Freiburg.
Quick-firing Wolves
The 2009 Bundesliga champions enjoyed a perfect start to the one-sided first half at the Mage Solar Stadion, with and Ivica Olic helping Wolfsburg to a comfortable 2-0 half-time lead, before a late Marcel Schäfer strike sealed an eighth win of the season for the Lower Saxony club.
Boosted by their recent string of positive results and a midweek progression to the last eight of the DFB Cup, Wolfsburg started confidently, quickly settling into their rhythm and repeatedly passing their way towards the Freiburg goal. The visitors saw their early efforts rewarded after only eight minutes, when Arnold got a foot on Patrick Ochs' cross from the right to give Dieter Hecking's men the lead.
Freiburg head coach Christian Streich had fielded the club's youngest ever Bundesliga starting-XI at an average age of 23.1 years, and their naivety was exposed when Olic finished off 's fine assist to slot home his seventh goal in the current campaign. With barely 11 minutes on the clock, the hosts faced an uphill struggle to get back into the game.
Freiburg improved
Streich reshuffled his defence midway the first half, introducing centre-back Pavel Krmas for Fallou Diagne, and Freiburg enjoyed their first shot on target shortly after, trying his luck from distance to force Diego Benaglio go full stretch. Immanuel Höhn headed a corner just wide for the hosts, before Baumann did well in defusing another Arnold rocket as the intensity of the match increased sharply.
Freiburg emerged for the second half in high spirits, and started to enjoy the lion's share of possession against a visiting side now looking to hold on to their lead. Nicolas Höfler almost gave the home team hopes only four minutes after the restart, but he mis-hit a bouncing ball with only Benaglio to beat, while saw his shot parried by the Swiss custodian.
Late rally
The hosts added further impetus to their attack in the closing stages, with veteran forward Mike Hanke coming on for holding midfielder Gelson Fernandes, and Freiburg duly began to pose a greater threat in the final third. Matthias Ginther missed their most clear-cut chance of the afternoon shortly afterwards, volleying Sebastian Kerk's cross over from close-range despite being unmarked.
Further opportunities came for Freiburg in the dying stages against the now deep-lying visitors, with substitute Kerk testing Benaglio from the edge of the box before failing to get the better of the 30-year-old on a one-on-one. Yet Wolfsburg held firm and in injury time, Willi Esveev set up Schäfer to seal three points for the Wolves and move up to fifth place in the table.
Line-ups and statistics
Felix Seaman-Höschele
