Svanberg labels spectacular overhead kick the "most beautiful" goal of his career
Lukas Nmecha (left), Mattias Svanberg (center), and Joakim Maehle (right salute the Wolfsburg traveling support. | Luciano Lima, Getty Images |
VfL Wolfsburg looked very much dead and buried trailing 0-3 against SC Freiburg well past the 70th minute at the Europa Park Stadion on Friday night. That was, until WOB substitute Jonas Wind pulled a goal back in the 75th. The Dane scored a brilliant goal. Shortly after that, however, Wind's fellow Scandinavian rendered the 1-3 forgettable with a Zlatan Ibrahimovic style-overhead kick on the 83rd-minute 2-3.
"That was the most beautiful goal I've ever scored up to this point," Svanberg noted in the mixed-zone afterwards, "I used to do things like that more often, but certainly never as a professional. It is, of course, bitter that we didn't get any points."
Svanberg's trainer, too, was full of praise for his player following what promises to be a strong contender for the "goal-of-the-season". The Swede played more regular of a role under previous VfL head-coach Niko Kovac. Current VW gaffer Ralph Hasenhüttl could only lament the fact that he has too few positions for a talented roster to fill.
"It wasn't only the goal that was important," Hasenhüttl noted at the post-match press conference, "The way he game into the game and functioned as an eight was great. One can see his class. We have a general problem that we have too many offensive players. More than 11 players deserve to start."