Koln 2 - 2 Wolfsburg: Wolfsburg settle for Cologne point

Posted Sunday, May 24, 2015 by PA

Wolfsburg finished as runners-up to Bayern Munich as they wrapped up their Bundesliga campaign with a 2-2 draw at Cologne.

Yuya Osako gave the hosts an early lead which was cancelled out by Luiz Gustavo, before Ivan Perisic gave Wolfsburg the lead.

An own goal from Robin Knoche hauled Cologne level in the second half and neither side was unhappy with the point.

With third-placed Borussia Monchengladbach beaten by Augsburg, Wolfsburg would have finished second even had they lost, while Cologne finished satisfyingly clear of the bottom three.

Left-back Jonas Hector's record of having appeared in every game this season ended on the final day because of injury, as Dusan Svento came in for him as part of a much-changed Cologne side, with coach Peter Stoger clearly keen to give some of his squad players a rare start.

With one eye already on next weekend's DFB-Pokal final against Borussia Dortmund, Wolfsburg coach Dieter Hecking also fielded a weakened team, with Diego Benaglio, Naldo and Ricardo Rodriguez all given a rest.

With just a minute on the clock, the weakened Wolfsburg rearguard was breached for the first time with Osako putting the hosts in front.

The Japanese forward finished from a tight angle after good work from Marcel Risse.

The lead lasted only five minutes, before Luiz Gustavo levelled with a shot from close range following Kevin De Bruyne's corner.

Wolfsburg were not happy with just levelling as they gained the lead in the 15th minute with Perisic netting from 10 yards after Daniel Caligiuri pounced on a defensive mistake before teeing up the Croatian.

An entertaining game had more in store.

Cologne still wanted to extend their lengthy unbeaten home record and they managed to get back on terms with Risse's cross turned in after 62 minutes by a combination of substitute Slawomir Peszko and defender Knoche, the latter determined to have had the decisive touch.

It established a scoreline which suited both teams, and the game concluded with little further drama.