WOLFSBURG: VfL Wolfsburg revealed a coronavirus outbreak at the club shortly before playing VfB Stuttgart in the Bundesliga on Sunday, but their depleted team still ground out a 1-0 win.

Wolfsburg said two hours before kickoff that midfielder Maximilian Arnold and left-back Jerome Roussillon were in isolation at home on Saturday after testing positive. Three other players were asked to quarantine by local authorities because they had close contact with the infected players.

Wolfsburg moved past Borussia Dortmund to fourth place in the league. Josip Brekalo scored the only goal of the game in the 49th minute with a pinball-like free kick which took two deflections off Stuttgart players on its way into the net. Stuttgart are seventh after their first away defeat since they were promoted back to the Bundesliga for this season.

Earlier, Freiburg thrashed Hertha Berlin 4-1 to record their third successive league win to move up to 10th after Ita­lian winger Vincenzo Grifo scored one goal and set up an­other.

Grifo netted an early opener for the hosts before helping defender Manuel Gulde score from a corner kick. Forward Ermedin Demirovic also got on the scoresheet while substitute Nils Petersen wrapped up the victory with a late penalty.

The result left Hertha in 14th place on 13 points, three above the relegation zone.

Published in Dawn, December 22nd, 2020