2. Bundesliga: Cottbus stun Wolfsburg in 4-4 draw for the ages
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In an early candidate for the 2. Bundesliga game of the season, newcomers Energie Cottbus shared spoils away at promotion candidates Wolfsburg. The visitors came from 3-0 down before scoring their fourth goal in injury-time.
Until the final moments of the first-half, it looked like Wolfsburg would secure a comfortable victory. Robert Glatzel scored twice in the first 35 minutes as he only needs four more goals to become a seventh centurion goal scorer in 2. Bundesliga.
Between the striker’s brace, Fabian Reese extended his record of direct goal involvement to five games with a brilliant assist for Vini Souza’s second strike in as many matches.
19-year-old Luca Erlein, who joined on loan from Bayer Leverkusen, pulled one back for Cottbus at the stroke of half-time. Claus-Dieter Wollitz’s side could easily have fallen further behind, given the chances Wolfsburg’s attack wasted.
However, the story changed with his triple substitutions making a big impact after the restart. Cottbus further reduced the deficit in the first five minutes when King Manu beat Jakub Zielinski with a powerful strike.
Vini Souza then conceded a penalty-kick, which was converted by former Wolfsburg youth player Tolcay Ciğerci. There was still more drama as Mattias Svanberg scored within seconds of coming on as a substitute.
The Swede has done the same in the World Cup against Tunisia. Svanberg’s excellent effort didn’t deter Cottbus from continuing on their momentum. Mathys Angely’s sending off five minutes before time boosted their morale as substitutes combined for the eighth goal of the game in the first minute of injury-time.
Another loanee from a Bundesliga club, Dmytro Bohdanov, provided the vital touch to convert from Christian Kinsombi’s cutback. The 19-year-old scored in his first two 2. Bundesliga appearances after completing the switch from Union Berlin.
After last week's 4-3 defeat away at Greuther Fürth, the newly-promoted side ended their three-game losing streak. Wolfsburg dropped to third place as they failed to win both of their opening home games.
