Bundesliga
Wolfsburg defeated Union Berlin 3-1 as goals from Patrick Wimmer, Mohamed Amoura and Lovro Majer marked the end of their 14-match winless home run in the Bundesliga.
Wolfsburg 3-1 Union Berlin
Goals: 1-0 Wimmer 10’ (assist: Amoura), 2-0 Amoura 30’ (assist: Kumbedi), 3-0 Majer 59’ (assist: Eriksen), 3-1 Nsoki 68’
The Wolves entered this fixture desperate to end their winless streak in front of their own fans, which dated back to a 5-1 victory against Borussia Mönchengladbach in January. Daniel Bauer's side had drawn their previous match against Eintracht Frankfurt, stopping a run of four consecutive defeats, but the Wolves were still searching for their first win under the interim coach.
Union, meanwhile, came into the match off the back of a valiant DFB Cup exit to Bayern Munich, in which Leopold Querfeld scored twice from the penalty spot. However, they were without captain Rani Khedira for the trip to the Volkswagen Arena.
Wolfsburg wasted no time in asserting their dominance, taking the lead in the 10th minute when Amoura found Wimmer on the left side of the penalty area.
The Austrian cut inside and coolly slotted the ball past Frederik Rønnow at his near post, ending his 18-game Bundesliga scoring drought.
The hosts doubled their advantage in the 30th minute when Saël Kumbedi delivered a perfect ball from the right into Amoura, who smashed it into the roof of the net.
Union responded late in the half as Querfeld rattled the crossbar with a header, before Kamil Grabara made a spectacular save to deny another headed effort from Janik Haberer deep into first-half stoppage time.
The second half saw Wolfsburg continue their clinical finishing when Christian Eriksen played in Majer, who kept his cool in front of goal to make it 3-0 just before the hour mark.
Amoura thought he had added a fourth shortly after, but his effort was ruled out for offside following a VAR review.
Union then pulled one back in the 68th minute when Stanley Nsoki found the net with the help of a deflection, before the visitors were awarded a penalty in the 90th minute after VAR spotted Konstantinos Koulierakis pulling Andrej Ilić's shirt. Grabara was able to deny Querfeld, though, diving the right way to preserve Wolfsburg's two-goal advantage as Bauer celebrated his first win as Wolves coach.
Amoura was simply unstoppable for Wolfsburg on Saturday, producing a masterclass in efficient attacking play. The forward not only scored a thunderous goal to double his side's lead in the 30th minute, but also provided the assist for Wimmer's opener.
His blistering pace - reaching 33.09 km/h as Wolfsburg's fastest player - caused constant problems for the Union defence before his substitutions in the 73rd minute. Amoura's clinical finishing and creative spark were instrumental in Wolfsburg's victory.
Bundesliga Match Facts
xGoals: Wolfsburg 0.61 - Union 2.5
Fastest player: Oliver Burke (Union), 34.01 km/h
Lowest goal probability: 1-0 by Patrick Wimmer (Wolfsburg), 8.63 per cent
Most pressed player: Ilyas Ansah (Union), 15 times under pressure
Pass efficiency: Danilho Doekhi (Union), +3.71
Fantasy Heroes: Kamil Grabara (Wolfsburg, 374 Points), Mohamed Amoura (Wolfsburg, 250 Points), Leopold Querfeld (Union, 305 Points)