VfL Wolfsburg : FC Augsburg

Since the fixture list was in our favour, our first stadium double was on Saturday. The first stop took us to the car city of Wolfsburg, which we could easily reach by train from Hanover. Arriving at the train station, we quickly realised that this city probably only consists of the car factory, an outlet and the stadium ;-)

A short walk leads to the stadium, where you can already see the Volkswagen Arena from afar. Right next to the stadium is a smaller stadium for the VfL women's team. Everything that belongs to the club is therefore gathered on the site. A luxury that only a few clubs can afford - also due to the lack of space.

The beer on offer was rather low-calibre in terms of taste, but the price was in the luxury segment compared to other stadiums. On the other hand, the sausages in front of the stadium were served directly from a charcoal grill. The inside of the stadium was very draughty, so there was no sign of the warm spring temperatures of the last few days. However, this may also be due to the design of the stadium, which is open behind the rows of seats?

The opponents today were FC Augsburg, who are a few places above Wolfsburg in the table. In general, VfL have had a modest season so far and are far from being rid of their relegation worries. Coach Niko Kovac is already considered to be well and truly counted out, and the crowd attendance on the day was correspondingly modest.

On the pitch, Wolfsburg got off to a furious start and created several great chances. The early 1:0 through the Austrian Patrick Wimmer in the 9th minute was the logical consequence. Wolfsburg continued to dominate the game as the match progressed. However, the decisive scene in the first half took place in the 45th minute. Goalscorer Patrick Wimmer interrupted an Augsburg attack, which was subsequently categorised as goal robbery and therefore punished with a red card. A more than questionable decision that once again raises the question of the usefulness of the VAR. Even worse, however, was the fact that Arne Maier's subsequent free-kick was deflected into the goal. So they went into the half-time break with a draw.

After half-time, it was almost exclusively the visitors from Augsburg who made good use of their superior numbers. However, it took until the 61st minute for Kristijan Jakic to make it 2:1 with a header. But there was also a fuss about a handball, which was not given after a VAR video analysis. The world governing body should look again at the issue of the handball rule - it is interpreted differently in every game and is rather useless in this form. After that, Wolfsburg tried everything again, but the equaliser would not come. On the contrary, Jakic scored a doublein the 79th minute and sealed the deal.

So Wolfsburg had to leave the pitch as losers once again.  It was to be Kovac's last game in the dugout - his successor was the Austrian Ralph Hasenhüttlwho most recently worked at Southampton FC in the Premier League.