COLOGNE. VfL Wolfsburg prevails over FC Köln with a 2-0 win with a goal from Y. Gerhardt (4′) and a penalty scored by M. Arnold (68′). FC Köln lost this match even if it was better in terms of ball possession (57%).

The match was played at the RheinEnergieStadion stadium in Cologne on Saturday and it started at 3:30 pm local time. In front of 49,300 spectators.​ The referee was Frank Willenborg with the help of Aarne Aarnink and Christian Bandurski. The 4th official was Mark Borsch. The weather was clear. The temperature was quite cold at 5.8 degrees Celsius or 42.42 Fahrenheit. The humidity was 45%.​

Match Statistics​

Ball possession

FC Köln had a superior ball possession 57% while VfL Wolfsburg was struggling with a 43% ball possession.

Attitude and shots

FC Köln was more pushing with 64 dangerous attacks and 14 shots of which 6 were on target. Anyhow, VfL Wolfsburg was able to find the solution to win this contest.​

FC Köln shot 14 times, 6 on target, 8 off target. Regarding the opposition, VfL Wolfsburg shot 7 times, 4 on target, 2 off target.

Cards

FC Köln received 1 yellow card (Jonas Hector). Talking about the opposition, VfL Wolfsburg received 2 yellow cards (Mattias Svanberg and F. Nmecha).

Standings

After this match, FC Köln will stay with 26 points to remain in the 12th place. Regarding the opposition, VfL Wolfsburg will have 33 points to hold in the 7th place.

Next matches

In the next match in the Bundesliga, FC Köln will play away with Borussia Dortmund on the 18th of March with a 14-4 head to head record in favor of Borussia Dortmund (7 draws).

VfL Wolfsburg will play away agasint VfB Stuttgart on the 18th of March with a 16-11 head to head record in favor of VfL Wolfsburg (5 draws).

FC Köln – Formation

FC Köln started with a conservative line-up (4-4-2).

The manager Steffen Baumgart decided to play with the following team: Marvin Schwäbe (5.7), Kingsley Schindler (6.3), Timo Hübers (7.1), Julian Chabot (7.0), Jonas Hector (7.3), Dejan Ljubičić (6.5), Mathias Olesen (6.5), Ellyes Skhiri (7.1), Linton Maina (6.2), Davie Selke (6.3) and Steffen Tigges (6.4).

The home team had on the bench: Matthias Köbbing, Timo Horn, Nikola Soldo, Eric Martel, Tim Lemperle (7.3), Justin Diehl (6.4), Sargis Adamyan (6.6) and Damion Downs.

Substitutions

FC Köln made 3 changes: Mathias Olesen for Sargis Adamyan (73′), S. Tigges for Tim Lemperle (78′) and Linton Maina for Justin Diehl (84′).

Best player: Tim Lemperle​

The player that probably impressed the most for FC Köln was Tim Lemperle.

His rating is (7.3) with 3 passes (66% accurate) and 1 key pass. He was won 2 duels out of 2.

His performance was remarkable also because he started the match from the bench before entering the filed in the 78′.

VfL Wolfsburg – Formation

VfL Wolfsburg started with a aggressive line-up (4-3-3).

Niko Kovač played with: Koen Casteels (8.1), Kilian Fischer (7.2), Maxence Lacroix (7.2), Micky van de Ven (7.3), Paulo Otávio (7.3), Mattias Svanberg (6.4), Maximilian Arnold (7.2), Yannick Gerhardt (7.1), Ridle Baku (6.7), Omar Marmoush (7.1) and Patrick Wimmer (6.8).

The following players were sitting on the bench: Pavao Pervan, Bartol Franjić, Nicolas Cozza, Felix Nmecha (6.8), Kevin Paredes (6.9), Josuha Guilavogui, Jakub Kamiński (6.1), Luca Waldschmidt and Jonas Wind (6.8).

Substitutions

VfL Wolfsburg made 4 changes: Ridle Baku for Jakub Kamiński (63′), Mattias Svanberg for Felix Nmecha (80′), Omar Marmoush for Jonas Older Wind (88′) and P. Wimmer for Kevin Paredes (88′).

Best player: Koen Casteels​

As per our analysis, the most impressive player for VfL Wolfsburg was the goalkeeper: Koen Casteels. His rating is 8.11. He performed 5 saves.

Results of the day

These are the results of the day in the Bundesliga.​

• Werder Bremen – VfL Bochum 1848 – 3-0
• Schalke 04 – VfB Stuttgart – 2-1
• Hertha BSC – FC Augsburg – 2-0
• TSG Hoffenheim – Borussia Dortmund – 0-1
• FC Köln – VfL Wolfsburg – 0-2
• RB Leipzig – Eintracht Frankfurt – 2-1