Match summary:
In Saturday’s meeting between last season’s DFB Cup and Coppa Italia winners, it was VfB who held the upper hand in the early stages. Sebastian Hoeneß’s side carved out the first clear-cut opportunity after 17 minutes when Josha Vagnoman latched onto a long ball forward, burst down the right flank and sent in a cross towards Nick Woltemade, who failed to hit the target. The visitors improved as the half went on, however, and took the lead through Martin Vitik in the 32nd minute.
Opportunities go begging
VfB thought they had equalised 11 minutes into the second half when Woltemade was sent clean through on goal and finished with aplomb, but the frontman was deemed to be in an offside position and the effort was chalked off. Chris Führich went close from a Jamie Leweling cross moments later, while Jeff Chabot almost levelled with a header and Leweling had a shot deflected narrowly off target from the edge of the box as Bologna held on.
Goals:
0-1 – 32nd minute: VfB are unable to properly clear a corner, which is deflected into Vitik’s path at the back post. The defender makes no mistake, nodding the ball into the net from close range.
Line-up VfB
Fabian Bredlow - Josha Vagnoman (81' Lorenz Assignon), Maximilian Mittelstädt (85' Pascal Stenzel), Chris Führich (70' Ermedin Demirovic), Nick Woltemade (81' Lazar Jovanovic), Luca Jaquez (81' Finn Jeltsch), Atakan Karazor (C) (85' Yannik Keitel), Jamie Leweling (81' Noah Darvich), Jeff Chabot (70' Ramon Hendriks), Deniz Undav, Chema Andres (58' Nikolas Nartey).
Reaction:
Sebastian Hoeneß: “It’s never nice to lose your first big test at home. I thought we played well for three-quarters of the game, but we also had a poor 15-minute spell. We came through pre-season unscathed and we’re happy overall. I’ve seen a lot of positives that we can build on.”
