Goalkeepers Koundé & Pulisich Save Leverkusen From Losing!
Koulierakis and Prömel headers lead to split points between Hoffenheim and Wolfsburg Second from the bottom of the Bundesliga table, VfL Wolfsburg (5-5-15, 17th) visited Baden-Württemberg and PreZero Arena on Saturday afternoon to take on third-place TSG 1899 Hoffenheim (15-4-6, 3rd). For the visitors, it was the debut of Dieter Hecking in his second spell as head coach of Die Wölfe, following the sacking of Daniel Bauer after just one win in 2026. Hecking previously coached the club between 2013 and 2016, winning the club its first and only DFB-Pokal title in 2014/15.
Knowing that even a victory this week does not put them safe from relegation, the club made some notable changes behind the scenes - letting go of Managing Director for Sport Peter Christiansen after two years in charge, and Head of Performance Christian Clarup after eight months at Volkswagen Arena. As for Hoffenheim, Christian Ilzer’s side are in the exact opposite situation, performing very well in the 48-year-old Austrian’s second season in charge of the club. Under his leadership, Hoffenheim have gone from slightly surviving the relegation zone last May to third-best in the competition, managing 1.
5 times the points that they finished with at the end of 2024/25. The match kicked off on a cloudy, six-degree afternoon, with Hoffenheim moving right to left and Wolfsburg going in the opposite direction. The hosts would generate the first chance six minutes later; Vladimír Coufal would launch a long throw-in, from the right side of the Wolfsburg half, towards the centre of the penalty area.
Ozan Kabak was well-placed and rose for a header towards the top-left corner; however, Kamil Grabara would paw it away with a decent right-handed stop. Coufal and Kabak would generate another chance in the seventeenth minute, with the Czech right-back delivering a cross to the Turkish centre-back this time; however, Kabak could not get enough of the ball, watching it sail to the left of Grabara and out for a goal kick to the visitors. Wolfsburg would generate their first chance of the day shortly afterward, with Joakim Mæhle finding Danish compatriot Christian Eriksen for a volley - an attempt which went just over the crossbar and out.
Just before the half-hour mark, Jesper Lindstrøm clipped Bazoumana Touré inside the box; after a review with lead VAR official Timo Gerach, head referee Tobias Reichel decided that the contact was purely incidental and that Lindstrøm cleanly won the ball from the Ivorian winger. Wolfsburg were playing defensive for the majority of the first half-hour, with possession at 32%. The final minutes of the term had two long-range chances, both coming from Fisnik Asllani.
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