Wolfsburg climbed out of the bottom two in the Bundesliga with a late point against Eintracht Frankfurt.
Mandzukic's late equaliser earns vital point
What could prove a vital point against fellow strugglers Eintracht Frankfurt allowed Wolfsburg to climb out of the bottom two in the Bundesliga.
Alexander Meier put the visitors in front against the run of play in the 59th minute and new Frankfurt coach Christoph Daum must have thought a winning debut was on the cards when the home side had Arne Friedrich sent off in the 71st minute.
But Mario Mandzukic equalised five minutes from time to earn Felix Magath's side a point and take them above St Pauli and out of the automatic relegation places.
Daum kept everybody guessing about who he would select in goal until he delivered his team sheet with the name of Ralf Fahrmann included, and the Frankfurt coach will feel justified in his choice on the evidence of this game.
The 22-year-old kept his side in the contest in the first half with a string of fine saves, the first coming from Diego's free-kick in the 14th minute and then an even better one denying Patrick Helmes just before the interval.
Controversial
He was beaten by Helmes in the 53rd minute, but the former Bayer Leverkusen striker's shot went just inches wide of the post.
Frankfurt took a controversial lead six minutes later when Meier scored from an offside position.
Halil Altintop's shot was only parried by Diego Benaglio and the ball hit Simon Kjaer before falling to Meier, who sent it past Benaglio into the far corner.
Wolfsburg's hopes of getting back into the game suffered a setback when Friedrich was shown his second yellow card in the 71st minute, but Wolfsburg did not lose belief and another spectacular save by Fahrmann kept out an excellent Diego free-kick.
The hosts' persistence paid off five minutes from time when Diego's sweeping ball into the area was headed over Fahrmann by Mandzukic for his second Bundesliga goal.
