Wolfsburg 1-0 Cologne
Goals: 1-0 Brekalo (69')

Cologne might be scrambling against relegation, but it was the away side who were the better team in the first 45 minutes. They began on the front foot and never allowed their hosts any time on the ball, to the extent that Wolfsburg struggled to make it out of their own half in the opening quarter of an hour. Cologne should have been in front by then, as Jonas Hector struck the crossbar from close range following Noah Katterbach’s cross from the left. The Billy Goats’ captain had another chance moments later, but he drilled wide on the turn from the edge of the box. It took Wolfsburg 33 minutes to muster a proper response – Jerome Roussillon had fired a harmless shot over the bar on 16 minutes – but they almost edged ahead when Xaver Schlager curled just wide from the edge of the area.

Wolfsburg coach Oliver Glasner evidently gave his charges the hairdryer treatment during the interval as they were far more active in the second half, with Yannick Gerhardt particularly lively, dangerously shooting over the bar on one of several darting runs into the box. They eventually took the lead in the 69th minute when Weghorst, who had been kept in check until then, found space on the edge of the area and flicked the ball to his left to Brekalo, who curled an effort into the bottom corner. Weghorst then tested Timo Horn himself for the first time, but the Dutchman’s shot from 25 yards was well saved. Weghorst also went close to getting on the scoresheet in stoppage time with a firm back-post header from Maximilian Arnold's corner, but Horn produced a fine reflex save to keep it out. The result keeps Wolfsburg in third, now on 54 points, while Cologne remain thick in the relegation mire.

WOB Wolfsburg Wolfsburg - KOE Cologne Cologne

Weghorst and Brekalo combine to down Cologne