Football United

VfL Wolfsburg will remain at the top of the Bundesliga table for the next fortnight. Coach Erik Gerets' side beat Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-1 at home this afternoon in round 7 of the Bundesliga. Goals by the brilliant Andres D'Alesandro (13) and another by skipper Stefan Schnoor two minutes before the half time break, were enough to keep the home side sitting pretty at the top of the Bundesliga tree. Gladbach replied with a goal by Oliver Neuville on 15 minutes, but the Wolves and their superb playmaker D'Alessandro were rarely threatened by the visitors.

Both coaches make one change

Eric Gerets was forced to make one change to the side which beat Kaiserslautern in round 6. Thomas Rytter came into the starting line-up for the injured Thiam, who has a torn thigh muscle. Rytter took his place at right back, allowing Karhan to move into midfield. The visiting coach Holger fach was without his skipper Christian Ziege (ankle surgery) for the match in the VOLKSWAGENARENA. His place went to the former Schalke defender Nico van Kerckhoven. The Gladbach captain's armband was worn by Hausweiler.

Gladbach in attacking mood

The visitors surprised the Bundesliga table-toppers by opting for all out attack from the off. Their new signing from Bayer Leverkusen Oliver Neuville could have scored within two minutes of the start. Luckily for the majority of the 26,726 gathered in the VOLKSWAGENARENA, the home defence quickly found its feet and began to deal with the early threat. The Wolves stated some attacks of their own and it was one of those in the 13th minute, which gave the home side the lead.

D'Alessandro opens the scoring!

Karhan's good work down the left resulted in him bringing in Andres D'Alessandro into the move on the right hand side of the Gladbach penalty area. The little midfield magician needed two attempts at his shot, but the second one was blasted into the roof of the net from a tight angle, much to the delight of the Olympic gold medal winner. The Wolves were still celebrating the lead as the visitors drew level on 15 minutes. A pass from the left wing found Neuville rushing in at the near post, where the German international goal-getter scored his 6th goal of the season from close range.

Injury shock

On 20 minutes, Wolfsburg's classy Dutch defender Kevin Hofland was taken off injured, after coming off worse in a tackle with Gladbach's Heinz. His place in the Wolves side was taken by Biliskov. It is not yet known what Hofland's problem is. Both keepers were able to shine shortly after Hofland's injury, as they saved well from Heinz and Karhan respectively.

The Wolves ahead again

Just as the game looked to be going into the half time break with the spoils shared, the Wolves unexpectedly took the lead again. A corner into the Gladbach box saw the Wolves skipper Stefan Schnoor rise above everyone around him to place a powerful header into the bottom right hand corner of the net with Kampa in the Gladbach goal well beaten. It was a bitter blow for the visitors who had been equal up to that point. Schnoor's goal gave the Wolves a somewhat fortunate half time lead.

Solid Wolves defence

The second half turned out to be not as entertaining as the first. The home side had plenty of possession, but it was the defensive performance which brought home the bacon for Gerets and Co. Gladbach to their credit never gave up trying, but they were unable to breach the well- marshalled home defence. So the Wolves deservedly top the Bundesliga table, and will do so for the next two weeks, because the Bundesliga is being interrupted by the World Cup qualifying matches due to take place starting next weekend.

WOLGSBURG: Jentzsch; Rytter, Quiroga, Hofland (Biliskov 20'), Weiser; Karhan, Schnoor; D'Alessandro; Brdaric (Topic, 74'), Klimowicz (Sarpei, 87'), M. Petrov

MÖNCHENGLADBACH: Kampa; Korzynietz, Pletsch, Strasser, van Kerckhoven (Fukal, 68'); Hausweiler (Sverkos, 65'); Ulich, Kluge; Broich (van Hout, 78'); Neuville, Heinz

GOALS: 1-0, D'Alessandro (13'); 1-1, Neuville (15'); 2-1, Schnoor (43')

Source: vfl-wolfsburg.de