Wolfsburg survive late Gent rally to secure victory
VfL Wolfsburg survived a furious late push by KAA Gent to secure a 3-2 away victory in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie on Wednesday.
Wolfsburg appeared on course for a guaranteed place in the quarterfinals by storming out to a three-goal lead by the hour. Julian Draxler served as the primary protagonist as Wolfsburg pounced on Gent’s naïveté. Draxler produced the opener with a sublime turn and a timely one-two on the stroke of halftime. His awareness punished Gent for carelessness to grab the second after 54 minutes. Max Kruse glanced home the third on the hour as Dieter Hecking’s squad appeared likely to render the second leg irrelevant.
Gent staged an unlikely revival inside the final 10 minutes to keep the tie in doubt ahead of the second leg at Volkswagen Arena next month. Sven Kums capped a fine solo run with the initial reply 10 minutes from the end, while Kalifa Coulibaly snatched a second when he ghosted past Dante and nodded home a minute from the end.
The late drama left the tie firmly in the balance, mostly through Wolfsburg’s inability to see out the affair. The visitors dominated the proceedings for the opening hour, but they wobbled late to allow Gent back into the proceedings. The onus now falls on the German side to complete the job on home soil and secure a first Champions League quarterfinal berth in the process.
Gent coped with the warning signs well before the opening whistle. The decision to omit recent loan signing Mbark Boussoufa from the Champions League squad betrayed a lack of awareness about the challenges ahead and hindered the potential for another famous night. This dogged side navigated through a weak group deftly to reach this stage for the first time, but the opening hour provided a dose of stark reality.
Draxler sketched out the battle lines with his effort over the bar inside the opening six minutes. Gent labored to close down Wolfsburg in possession with the trio of center backs often stretched beyond recognition. The visitors enjoyed plenty of the ball as the nervy hosts tried to find their footing.
Thomas Foket squandered a gilt-edged chance to ease the tensions when he lashed Laurent Depoitre’s deft flick into his path. It proved a telling bit of wastefulness as Wolfsburg exercised dominion in possession and spent most of the first half trying to engineer the breakthrough.
There were opportunities lost for either side -- Matz Sels prevented Stefan Mitrovic from heading into his own goal, while Depoitre somehow did not receive a foul on the edge of the penalty area after Dante clattered into him -- before Draxler summoned his considerable skill to break the deadlock after 44 minutes.
From the moment Draxler collected Ricardo Rodriguez’s pass on the left and spun away from Foket, Gent were vunerable. Draxler stormed up the left to mine the available space and played a one-two with Vieirinha to carve open the back three. The precise and ruthless finish capped a fine move and sent Wolfsburg into the interval with a deserved advantage.
Draxler pounced on Gent’s casual work in possession to engineer the second nine minutes into the second half. Neto emerged as the architect of this self-inflicted wound with an ill-advised back pass toward Mitrovic. Draxler nipped ahead, peeled past Mitrovic and scooped over the stranded Sels to extract maximum punishment.
Gent lost any sense of composure after conceding the second and shipped a third six minutes later. Christian Trasch once again benefited from the space afforded in the wide areas and whipped his cross toward the near post. Kruse supplied a glancing touch to round off the movement and send the hosts spiraling out of control.
Kruse hit the post moments later as Gent nearly buckled completely, but the hosts recovered in the ensuing minutes and started to find their footing. The double substitution in the wake of the third goal -- including the arrival of Israeli-American midfielder Kenny Saief -- eventually prodded the hosts forward and spurred a response inside the final 10 minutes.
Gent captain Kums carried most of the burden with a marauding run up the left. He encountered precious little resistance as he ventured into the penalty area and opted to angle his drive toward the far post. Wolfsburg goalkeeper Koen Casteels -- handed his first Champions League start with Diego Benaglio injured -- feebly pushed the effort into the net to provide the Belgians with some late inspiration.
Wolfsburg lost the plot after conceding the first with Casteels particularly culpable for creating instability with his poor handling. Gent pushed and pushed until the second goal arrived a minute from the end.
Saief reveled in the space afforded on the left and swung a cross toward the near post. Coulibaly cut straight across the static Dante to nod past Casteels to grab a second and revive Gent’s hopes for an unexpected place in the last eight.
Those dreams hung by a thread after a dire opening hour, but the Belgians at least sparked hope ahead of the second leg. Wolfsburg are still favored to progress now after the three away goals, but their late wobbles here ensure the outcome remains finely poised ahead of the return at the Volkswagen Arena.
