Berlin, Sept 12: Mario Mandzukic scored twice as Wolfsburg came from behind to beat Schalke in the Bundesliga Sunday.
Mandzukic canceled out Raul Gonzalez's 13th minute opener with a header in the 33rd, and the Croatian secured Wolfsburg's first win after three losses when he scored again in the 82nd.
“We invested more that Schalke did and fully deserved to win,” said Wolfsburg coach Felix Magath, who was facing his previous club.
Schalke missed the chance to join Bayern Munich and Werder Bremen at the top of the table.
Earlier, Timmy Simons scored two penalties in four minutes to give 10-man Nuremberg a 2-1 win at Cologne.
“Before the game, I saw a statistic that I'd never won here,” said Nuremberg coach Dieter Hecking. “I told the team I'd like to have that wiped out. It's nice that my players listened to me.”
Simons scored in the 31st and 35th minutes, after Cologne captain Geromel conceded both spot kicks.
Brazilian defender Geromel brought down former Cologne player Markus Feulner in the box in the 30th, before repeating the mistake by fouling Tomas Pekhart five minutes later.
Adil Chihi pulled one back for Cologne in the 39th, when he converted the rebound from Lukas Podolski's saved shot, but the home side couldn't find an equalizer.
Pekhart was harshly sent off in the 42nd, earning a second yellow card for a foul on Geromel.
Cologne's Miso Brecko earned a direct red in the 75th for a foul on Feulner.
Cologne has only four points from five games, and coach Stale Solbakken said the “unacceptable performance” was “a huge disappointment” to him.
“After two good performances, this was a step back,” Solbakken said.
Raul's delightful goal opened the scoring for Schalke, when Jefferson Farfan lobbed the ball in from the right over two Wolfsburg defenders for the onrushing Spaniard to volley home with his left foot.
“Schalke deserved to take the lead, but we fought our way back into the game.” said Magath.
Mandzukic equalized in the 33rd, when he reached offseason signing Rasmus Joensson's cross before Schalke defender Christian Fuchs at the far post to head past Ralf Faehrmann.
His strike partner Srdjan Lakic should have taken advantage of a Kyriakos Papadopoulos slip to score in the 72nd, but he headed Marcel Schaefer's cross wide with only the goalkeeper to beat.
Lakic might have had a penalty one minute later, but referee Deniz Aytekin saw nothing wrong with Lewis Holtby's challenge when the two went skidding in the area.
Marwin Hitz—in Wolfsburg's goal in place of the injured Diego Benaglio—denied Klaas Jan Huntelaar in the 79th, when the Schalke striker should really have scored.
Jose Manuel Jurado's foul allowed Wolfsburg a chance from a free kick, and Schaefer's effort from 28 meters took a heavy deflection from Mandzukic to wrong-foot the Schalke goalkeeper.
Schalke pushed hard for an equalizer, but Fuchs' wild effort from distance sailed into the crowd.
“We started well,” Schalke's coach Ralf Rangnick said. “Once we took the lead though, we weren't bold enough and we didn't go forward enough. This loss was unnecessary.” AP
