Football United

Three goals by the Nürnberg striker Mintal and a further one by Schroth, sent the Wolves home with their tails between their legs, as the table-toppers lost 4-0 away to Nürnberg on Saturday afternoon. A ridiculous red card shown to Andres D’Alessandro by the inexperienced referee Gräfe on 8 minutes started the Wolfsburg demise in the round 12 Bundesliga clash. Erik Gerets reverted to a 4-4-2 system for the Nürnberg match, leaving out Klimowicz and bringing in Rytter.

Red card for D’Alessandro
The writing was on the wall for the visitors as Mintal opened the scoring inside the opening minute as he latched onto a pas on the edge of the box. To add insult to inury, Anders D’Alessandro was sent off for reacting to a nudge by an opponent. Both coaches said after the game that a yellow card would have sufficed. That decision blew the concept of the Wolves coach Gerets out of the window. It was no surprise then when Nürnberg went two goals up on 28 minutes as Mintal struck again.

Killer goal on the stroke of half time
The referee had the wistle in his mouth ready to blow for half time as Nürnberg struck again as Banovic played in a low ball to the unmarked Schroth who finished well advancing into the Wolves penalty area.

All-change
Erik Gerets brought on Maik Franz at the start of the second half. He also brought on Klimowicz for Weiser. Four minutes into the second half Larsen passed the ball 35 yards to Vittek. Franz speculated that he would turn to his left, but he turned to his right, making space for himself on the edge of the box. He blasted a shot which Jentzsch did well to parry, but the man of the match Mintal was lurking to make the score 4-0.

All over bar the shouting…
The fourth goal was the final nail in the Wolfsburg coffin, and the Bundesliga leaders only had a single chance after that which was missed by Klimowicz. For Nürnberg it was their second home win of the season. For Wolfsburg it was third third consecutive away defeat. There is no doubting that the home side was worth the win. VfL Wolfsburg remains top of the Bundesliga table, a point ahead of Bayern who beat Hanover at home today. VfB Stuttgart are the visitors to the VOLKSWAGENARENA in round 13.

Nürnberg: Schäfer - Leandro Silva (29. Paulus), Cantaluppi, Nikl, L. Müller - Larsen, S. Müller - Mintal, Banovic (74. Slovak) - Vittek, Schroth (69. Kießling)

VfL Wolfsburg: Jentzsch - Rytter, Quiroga (75. Biliskov), Hofland (46. Franz), Weiser (46. Klimowicz) - Thiam, Schnoor, Karhan - D'Alessandro - Brdaric, Petrov

Goals: 1:0 Mintal (1.), 2:0 Mintal (28.), 3:0 Schroth (45.), 4:0 Mintal (49.)

Source: vfl-wolfsburg.de