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Wolfsburg's Bartosz Bialek after the late defeat
Photo:
Thanassis Stavrakis / AP
By conceding a goal in stoppage time, VfL Wolfsburg missed participating in the Europa League again.
The Bundesliga club lost their third and final qualifying game at AEK Athens despite having a half-time lead 1: 2 (1: 0).
The Swiss international Admir Mehmedi put Wolfsburg in the lead with the last action of the first half (45th + 1 minute).
After the break, the Portuguese André Simoes met with a 30-meter shot (64th) and the Iranian Karim Ansarifard just before the final whistle (90th + 4) for the twelve-time Greek champions.
Despite the victories against FK Kukesi and Desna Tschernihiw in the first two rounds of qualification, VfL can only watch the draw for the twelve Europa League groups this Friday.
Wolfsburg could have fallen behind early on in this game.
But in the 20th minute, substitute goalkeeper Pavao Pervan saved a penalty from AEK captain Petros Mantalos.
According to the Portuguese referee Artur Dias, Xaver Schlager had previously fouled the Serbian Nenad Krsticic.
However, there is no video evidence that could have verified this questionable decision in the Europa League.
Wolfsburg could not use its advantages
The Austrian Pervan again represented the injured Koen Casteels in Athens.
Otherwise, coach Oliver Glasner changed his starting formation due to the many games in these weeks.
Before the last Bundesliga game at SC Freiburg there were eight changes, this time there were six.
The game suffered from the fact that hosts Athens acted very hesitantly even in their own stadium and VfL hardly knew what to do with their field advantages.
The Greeks also left their best striker Marko Livaja on the bench.
After taking the lead, VfL decided to just defend their narrow lead.
The 1: 1 equalization fell surprisingly, after the 1: 2 the Lower Saxony could no longer react.
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ngo / dpa