Gomez at the double as Wolfsburg win at 10-man Freiburg
VfL Wolfsburg won for the first time since Matchday 1 with an emphatic victory over SC Freiburg, with striker Mario Gomez moving up into 15th place on the list of all-time top Bundesliga goal scorers.
SC Freiburg 0-3 VfL Wolfsburg
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Goals: 0-1 Gomez (41), 0-2 Gomez (52), 0-3 Rodriguez (86)
A quiet opening period gave way to an end-to-end encounter played in pouring rain, with Mario Gomez denied from close by a brilliant save by Alexander Schwolow flinging out his right leg. Vincenzo Grifo skied a shot a long way over when one-on-one with Diego Benaglio, but the Freiburg midfielder went closer with a free kick that curled around the post. Benaglio parried away a long range shot from Amir Abrashi, but it was Wolfsburg who took the lead against the run of play. Gomez got across his marker at a corner to flash a header across goal and into the net, despite Schwolow getting a hand to the ball.
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Gomez stuck again early in the second half, when from a Freiburg free kick the Wolves tore downfield allowing the German international to go one-on-one with Schwolow. He showed all his experience to calmly slide the ball home, leaving the hosts with a huge task on their hands. Freiburg piled on the pressure, but Yannick Gerhardt’s brilliant interception to a Grifo cross denied Florian Niederlechner a simple tap in at close range. However there was to be no way back for the hosts when Christian Gunter clipped Daniel Didavi in the box to concede a penalty and receive his marching orders for his second yellow card. Ricardo Rodriguez fired his spot kick home to confirm Wolfsburg’s victory and end Freiburg’s winning streak on home soil.
Man of the Match
Mario Gomez stepped up to the plate just when his side needed him to, displaying all the know-how he has built up over the years to grab goals that could prove to vital to Wolfsburg's cause this season
Talking Point
Valerien Ismael's decision to make three changes after the galling defeat to Bayer 04 Leverkusen last week paid off in fine style. Wolfsburg looked like a totally different outfit and it is hard to see them staying in the bottom half of the table if they play like this, but picking uppoints at home is top of the agenda now.
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Match Stats
- Gomez is now on 141 Bundesliga goals, 15th in the all-time scorers list.Wolfsburg ran 114.58km, over four more than Freiburg.It was Gomez's first pair of goals in the Bundesliga since April 2013.
Line-ups
Freiburg:Schwolow - Stenzel, Torrejon, Söyüncü, Günter - Höfler (Fohrenbach 87), Abrashi (Petersen 58)– Frantz (c), Grifo - Philipp - Niederlechner (Haberer 89)
Coach: Christian Streich
Wolfsburg:Benaglio (c)- Träsch, Bruma, Rodriguez, Gerhardt - Seguin, Gustavo – Blaszczykowski (Didavi 75), Arnold, Caligiuri (Schafer 88)- Gomez (Mayoral 81)
Coach: Valerien Ismael