Brilliance follows hard work as BVB beat Wolfsburg 4-0 | OneFootball

BVB took an early lead in the third minute through Serhou Guirassy's 18th goal of the season in front of 81,365 spectators at a sold-out SIGNAL IDUNA PARK, but were unable to put their stamp on the game as much as they had hoped in a largely even and uneventful first half. That changed after Guirassy's second goal in the 59th minute. The shackles were loosened, as Borussia started to play with confidence and soon increased their lead to 3-0 (69) and 4-0 (73) through substitute Karim Adeyemi. The result means BVB sit fourth in the table ahead of tomorrow's fixtures.

The scenario:   Sixth versus 12th. The team with the best form over the last five weeks against an opponent who had the longest winless run in the Bundesliga. Wolfsburg's last victory was a 2-1 away win in Bremen at the beginning of March, with two draws and five defeats since then. BVB had won six of their last six home games against VfL, scoring 21 goals and conceding just one.

Personnel matters: Marcel Sabitzer was back after a seven-week injury lay-off and moved to the bench, as did captain Emre Can, who had been ailing for a few weeks and had most recently played in midfield in the 3-2 win at Hoffenheim. He was replaced by the other returning player, Pascal Gross, who returned to his usual position in defensive midfield. Coach Niko Kovac otherwise deployed the same formation as last weekend.

Tactics: Borussia played in a 3-4-2-1 formation, with Gittens on the left flank and Brandt on the right, with both often moving inside. Bensebaini and Süle repeatedly played a part in the attacking play, which tended to go down the right flank. Wolfsburg played in a 4-3-3 formation.

The match & analysis:Borussia put the pressure on early on and soon celebrated an early goal. Less than 180 seconds had passed when Süle played the ball into the centre from a half-right position. Brandt tried to take the ball down but was unable to control it. As a result, Wolfsburg defender Vavro was caught by surprise as the ball slipped through towards the edge of the penalty area. This gave Guirassy a clear passage to goal. He took a couple of touches, composed himself, then slotted a low shot into the bottom right-hand corner from exactly 11 metres out to make it 1-0.

However, Wolfsburg were the more active team for a good 15 minutes after that, as the Borussia defence showed a few lapses in concentration. In the tenth minute, Wimmer had a shot on target - albeit from a very tight angle - and Skov Olsen had an unchallenged header after a quarter of an hour, which he sent just wide of the target. It would have been called back for offside in any case. It was only after around 20 minutes that BVB, whose commitment was unwavering, regained control of the game. A searching long ball by Benesebaini found Brandt, who unleashed a shot from a tight angle. VfL goalkeeper Grabara deflected the ball out for a corner with his foot (23).

The 1-0 lead at half-time was not undeserved, but it left Wolfsburg with every chance in a game that the Black & Yellows wanted to put their stamp on. Coach Nico Kovac's side had shown too little in attack up to that point, and had invited VfL to get forward on several occasions instead of pushing them back. Guirassy had the first shot on goal in the second half in the 53rd minute after a sharp cross from Ryerson. Wolfsburg defended resolutely, and the Guirassy-Gittens-Brandt trio were sometimes left isolated up the pitch.

Ryerson won the ball deep in his own half and triggered the action that led to the second goal in the 59th minute. Brandt and Guirassy combined up the right flank, Brandt then picked out Gross from the byline, who skipped past three Wolfsburg players in the penalty area and passed back inside, where Guirassy took the bouncing ball on the half-volley and fired it into the roof of the net to make it 2-0. This goal gave the Black & Yellows the extra confidence they had been looking for.

Things were now running like clockwork. Ten minutes later, Nmecha won the ball high up the pitch, which led to the third goal. Bensebaini passed to Adeyemi, who had just come on as a substitute. He skipped past two Wolfsburg defenders and dispatched a powerful effort into the back of the net. And just four minutes later, Bensebaini played a good ball to the left to Adeyemi, who got his head down, played a one-two with Brandt and scored from a half-left position to make it 4-0. In the 82nd minute, Duranville failed to beat Grabara with a shot to the near post.

Outlook: BVB will travel to Bayer Leverkusen next Sunday and then host Holstein Kiel in the season finale at SIGNAL IDUNA PARK the following Saturday.Boris Rupert

Teams & goals

Bundesliga, Matchday 32 Saturday, 3 May 2025, 18:30 CEST BORUSSIA DORTMUND 4–0 (1-0) VFL WOLFSBURG

Bor. Dortmund: Kobel – Süle, Anton, Bensebaini – Ryerson, Gross (82, Sabitzer), F. Nmecha (76, Can), Svensson – Brandt (76, Duranville), Gittens (67, Adeyemi) – Guirassy (82, Chukwuemeka)VfL Wolfsburg: Grabara – Fischer (76, Roerslev), Vavro (76, Odogu), Koulierakis, Maehle – Vranckx –Dardai, Wimmer (70, Majer) – Skov Olsen, Tiago Tomas (70, Amoura), L. Nmecha (70, Wind)Substitutes: Meyer, Couto, Özcan, Reyna – Pervan, Gerhardt, Kaminski, Behrens Goals: 1-0 Guirassy (3, Süle), 2-0 Guirassy (59, Gross), 3-0 Adeyemi (69, Bensebaini), 4-0 Adeyemi (73, Brandt)Corners: 4-3 (3-1 at half-time), chance ratio: 7-2 (2-1)Referee: Dr. Brych (München), bookings: – FischerAttendance: 81,365 (sold-out), weather: dry, 16 degrees