VfL Wolfsburg suffered their first defeat of the season in the Bundesliga and lost ground for the first time as pursuit of front runner FC Bayern Munich.

Coach Mark van Bommel's team is annoyed by an unnecessary 1: 3 (1: 1) at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim.

Four days before the Champions League game against Sevilla FC, international Ridle Baku put the guests in the lead (25th minute).

In front of 8,523 spectators in Sinsheim, Andrej Kramaric equalized with his first goal of the season (45th + 2).

Christoph Baumgartner (73.) and Pavel Kaderabek (81.) scored for the late Kraichgauer.

The team of head coach Sebastian Hoeneß was able to achieve its first success of this round in the home arena in the third attempt and also won for the first time since the 4-0 opening success on the first match day in Augsburg.

With the self-confidence of being second in the table, the confidence in their own defensive strength with only two goals conceded to date and above all in striker Wout Weghorst, the Wolfsburg team went into the game.

The Dutch striker had previously scored seven goals in six games against TSG, but this time he rarely appeared.

Baku takes the lead

In addition to Weghorst, Dodi Lukebakio, Maximilian Philipp and Baku were on the offensive in the VfL team.

The quartet initially put the Hoffenheim team under so much pressure that goalkeeper Oliver Baumann and defense chief Kevin Vogt often struggled to even start building up the game.

Very rarely did TSG have a chance like Kramaric's in the first half.

In the 9th minute, the Croatian World Cup runner-up was able to pull away from the edge of the penalty area, but the ball went wide.

The guests shot towards Baumann at every opportunity - and that quickly paid off: After his national team colleague David Raum lost the ball, Baku fooled opponent Pavel Kaderabek and flicked the ball into the net from 20 meters.

Instead of the missing Sebastian Rudy, Florian Grillitsch tried to distribute the ball at Hoffenheim, but the hosts continued to struggle with the switching actions.

Like last time at home in the 2-0 draw against Mainz, TSG put in a weak first half.

Somewhat surprisingly, the equalizer fell immediately before the break whistle: In a corner of space, the ball flew past all of the tall Wolfsburgers and Kramaric nodded to 1-1.

After four assists in the season so far and 497 goalless minutes, Kramaric scored again.

The 30-year-old had 20 hits in 2020/21.

The Wolfsburg-based team played their physical strength and clever floor plan well in a short urge phase after the move - but not well enough.

When VfL returned to management mode, Baumgartner was the first to use a low cross from Kaderabek.

Then the Czech preparer himself was there when Raum circled the ball against the post with a free kick.