A comeback and a late collapse

Nürnberg and Wolfsburg drew 4:4 on Saturday 10 October in the second division top match at the Max-Morlock-Stadion, in front of 44,028 spectators. Wolfsburg, the self-declared promotion favourite and a team relegated from the Bundesliga, led 2:0 at half-time through Hauke Wahl (12th minute) and Muhammed Damar (29th minute). Nürnberg changed the match after the break, with Piet Scobel scoring in the 52nd and 59th minutes and Mohamed Ali Zoma making it 3:2 in the 63rd minute. Alessio Besio equalised for Wolfsburg at 3:3, a goal timed at 90+1 in some reports and at 90+2 in others. Giannis Masouras put Nürnberg ahead 4:3 in the 90+6th minute, and Besio scored his second goal in the 90+9th minute to make it 4:4.

Referee and video review

Before half-time the home players and the crowd felt that referee Lars Erbst had treated them unfairly, and the match became heated. In the closing phase Erbst awarded Wolfsburg a penalty, but he reversed the decision after a video review because the ball had been out of play beforehand (88th minute). The equaliser came four minutes after that decision. The final minutes then produced three goals, two for Wolfsburg and one for Nürnberg.

Reactions from the coaches and captain

Nürnberg coach Miroslav Klose described the evening from two sides, with the spectators in mind and his own nerves in mind.

“For the spectators it was a fantastic game, for our nerves on the coaching side not so much.”

Scobel called the late sequence overall sobering when he spoke to Sky, and he described the match as a rollercoaster of emotions. Wolfsburg coach Tobias Strobl was equally frustrated, especially because his side had dominated the first half before fading after the break.

“In the end it feels neither like we won a point, nor like we dropped two points.”

Captain Hauke Wahl pointed to the loss of control in the second half and to a habit the team needs to remove.

“We stopped winning the duels. We no longer had that willingness, and we relied a bit too much on our quality.”

Table position

Nürnberg stays unbeaten after seven matches and remains second on 17 points, behind Hertha BSC, so it missed the chance to move to the top. The club has scored 20 goals in those seven games. Wolfsburg are six points behind Nürnberg in the table. Strobl said his team must talk internally about why it was less sharp in the second half than in the first.