Okafor brace helps Salzburg waltz past Wolfsburg

Striker Noah Okafor scored twice as RB Salzburg claimed a precious 3-1 Champions League victory over VfL Wolfsburg at the Red Bull Arena on Wednesday to steam ahead in Group G and stay on course for the knockout rounds.

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Germany's teenage striker Karim Adeyemi opened the scoring for the home side after two minutes, before Wolfsburg levelled through Lukas Nmecha to leave the game in the balance.

But Okafor’s second-half brace sealed a deserved win for the Austrians to move them to seven points from three games, ahead of Sevilla and Wolfsburg, who have two points each, and Lille on one. Sevilla and Lille meet later on Wednesday.

Wolfsburg will host Salzburg in their next encounter on November 2, where the latter could seal a place in the knockout stages for the first time.

Salzburg went ahead when an innocuous looking ball in search of Adeyemi was not dealt with by Wolfsburg right back Kevin Mbabu, who appeared in two minds over what to do, and the pacey forward stole in and supplied a cool finish.

The home side should have been 2-0 up shortly afterwards following another defensive error from the nervy visitors.

Defender John Brooks allowed a long ball to drop over his shoulder, which put Okafor one-on-one with Wolfsburg goalkeeper Koen Casteels, but the Salzburg forward’s shot hit the top of the crossbar.

The German side levelled with another cheap giveaway in what was a frenetic opening 15 minutes to the game.

An in-swinging corner was not dealt with by the home side, and Nmecha rose between three defenders to get a slight touch to the ball and score.

Adeyemi’s clever backheel flick from a corner forced an excellent save from Casteels in the second half, while Luka Sucic’s shot was cleared off the line as Salzburg pushed for the next goal.

It came on 64 minutes when Wolfsburg failed to clear from a corner and Okafor reacted quickest to poke the ball into the net from six yards.

It was the same recipe again for his second, as Wolfsburg again did not deal with a corner and Okafor showed good control before rifling the ball into the net.