De Bruyne the key as Wolfsburg pick Hamburg's lock

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Wolfsburg - Kevin De Bruyne was the star of the show with two assists as VfL Wolfsburg recorded a comfortable 2-0 win over Hamburger SV at the Volkswagen Arena.

Slim pickings

Ivica Olic and Aaron Hunt were the beneficiaries of the Belgian international's masterful display, netting a goal apiece to return the Wolves to within four points of leaders FC Bayern München at the Bundesliga summit.

Hunt was rewarded for his match-winning performance against FK Krasnodar in the UEFA Europa League with only his third Bundesliga start in Wolfsburg colours. Right-back Christian Träsch was also named in the starting line-up after grabbing two assists on Thursday night.

HSV, for their part, were unchanged following last weekend's 1-0 win over Bayer 04 Leverkusen. Josef Zinnbauer's men completed just 20 passes in the opening 15 minutes, but still managed to register three shots on Diego Benaglio's goal compared to the Wolves' solitary effort from an Ivan Perisic header at the other end.

Olic invention


It was, nevertheless, the hosts who got their noses in front just as they had done in all but three of their ten league outings so far in 2014/15. Hunt's left-wing corner was volleyed goalwards by in-form midfielder De Bruyne, with Olic instinctively directing the ball beyond Hamburg goalkeeper Jaroslav Drobny from close range.

The opening goal and a couple of teasing Vieirinha crosses notwithstanding, the first half had been something of a cagey affair. Hamburg duly looked to crank things up a notch after the restart, but ex-Germany international defender Heiko Westermann could only glance Rafael van der Vaart's inswinging free kick onto the roof of the net.

De Bruyne on point


Olic almost grabbed his fifth goal in seven appearances against his former employers as Wolfsburg turned the screw. The Croat's classy lob missed its mark by mere centimetres, before De Bruyne ran the length off the field and picked out Hunt, who calmly slotted home to put further daylight between the two sides with 27 minutes still to play.

Former Hamburg striker Olic made way to a standing ovation, but the day undeniably belonged to De Bruyne, the 2014/15 Bundesliga campaign's runaway leader in the creative department with nine assists in 11 league appearances so far this term.

Line-ups and statistics

Christopher Mayer-Lodge