Naldo fires Wolfsburg to Augsburg win
Wolfsburg - Naldo scored his second goal of the season as VfL Wolfsburg picked up a 1-0 win over FC Augsburg on Sunday.
Possession play
The Wolves took their time to get going, but could quite easily have added to their tally once the rangy Brazilian broke the deadlock with almost an hour gone.
Dieter Hecking choose to leave top scorer Ivica Olic on the bench for a Wolfsburg side that went into the game having scored at least once in all of there last 16 league assignments. Danish international Nicklas Bendtner started in the Croatian's stead, with Wolfsburg starting the game brightly despite their midweek exertions in the UEFA Europa League
The Wolves had enjoyed 63 per cent of possession by the time the clocked ticked past the 20-minute mark, but for all the efforts of forward-thinking left-back Ricardo Rodriguez, Augsburg goalkeeper Marwin Hitz still hadn't had a save to make. It was a similar story at the other end, where Diego Benaglio largely found himself cast in the role of spectator between the Wolfsburg posts.
Wave of chances
Rodriguez was in the thick of things defensively to thwart Dominik Kohr's rising drive as Augsburg began to gain a foothold in the contest. Raul Bobadilla twice went close either side of a tame effort from Halil Altinop, before Wolves midfielder Maximilian Arnold - who made his Bundesliga debut against the Bavarians back in 2011/12 - sliced wide from 18 yards.
The chances continued to flow after the restart as Benaglio smothered at the feet of Caiuby after the Brazilian had pinched the ball off the Wolfsburg No1 on the edge of the area. A trademark Naldo drive brought a diving save out of Hitz, before Augsburg midfielder Tobias Werner scooped wide from 12 yards when it looked easier to score.
Naldo on the money
The pendulum in full swing, Naldo made his next chance count two minutes shy of the hour-mark. The 32-year-old defender galloped through the midfield after dispossessing Caiuby, exchanged passes with Sebastian Jung and arrowed a fine effort into the far corner from just inside the Augsburg area with aplomb.
The tiring Augsburg legs presented Kevin De Bruyne, Vieirinha and fellow substitute Olic with further chances to extend the Wolves' lead, but 1-0 was how it stayed as the hosts moved, temporarily at least, into the top six courtesy of their their third league win and first clean sheet of the campaign.
Line-ups and statistics
