A late equaliser from Steven Skrzybski enabled Holstein Kiel to nick a point off VfL Wolfsburg in the 2024/25 Bundesliga’s Round 19 curtain-raiser. Marcel Rapp’s storks earned their 12th point of the campaign in the 2-2 draw.
The newly-promoted Bundesliga side certainly owed much to good fortune in the result. Their Lower Saxon hosts racked up 2.28 xG to Kiel’s 0.24. Wolfsburg outshot their guests 22-5 and VfL attacker Patrick Wimmer struck the post twice.
“We were very efficient in our chances,” trainer Rapp remarked in his post-match interview with German broadcaster DAZN. “During the first half of the season, we often found ourselves in the position of losing despite playing well. Now we gained a perceived lucky point.”
Kiel skipper Timo Becker agreed with the assessment that his team was outplayed, nevertheless taking care to emphasize that he and his colleagues deserved to feel good about themselves after eking out a draw.
“As an underdog, one has no choice,” Becker told DAZN when commenting on the ultra-defensive manner in which Kiel played after taking an early lead. “The opponent was good with the ball and comfortable playing at home.
“It’s difficult for a promoted team to keep up with them on equal terms,” Becker continued. “That’s why one has to rely on the virtues of running, scratching, and biting. We demonstrated that today.”
Skrzybski admitted that he felt both the result and his first German top flight goal since July 2020 (while representing Fortuna Düsseldorf) were “a bit lucky”, yet was still praised the manner in which the team didn’t give up.
“One has to work defensively, and we did that,” Skrzybski remarked in the mixed zone, “We stuck together and put a lot of legs in the box [in defence of the lead].
“The point was not undeserved, but it was also fortunate,” Skrzybski also noted. “But it was a draw that was good for morale. It could have been possible to go down here.
“I take my hat off to the team for still believing in ourselves,” Skrzybski.
