Wolfsburg: Final against ManU after Schuerrle's goals

For a long time now, football fans haven't seen Andre Schuerrle with a happy face. After several months of poor performances not many expected the 25-year-old German forward to smile again on a football pitch.

Now the evening in Moscow with him scoring two goals to give his team VfL Wolfsburg a 2-0 win against ZSKA Moscow could well mark a return to happiness.

After his Moscow goals, not only Schuerrle is happy but his club too. The Germans have won nine points in the Champions League Group B and have a good chance to progress to the next round.

Schuerrle's goals additionally serve up a special duel against Manchester United for top spot at home on December 8. After the victory in Moscow, Wolfsburg have already qualified for the Euro League but at least one point against Manchester could mean a last 16 place for the Germans.

To be honest, Schuerrle's two goals were as much a surprise as Wolfsburg's win. So far coach Dieter Hecking's team has not managed to win away (1-2 in Manchester/0-2 in Eindhoven) in the Champions League. And even in the German Bundesliga, Wolfsburg regularly come away empty handed on their travels.

Schuerrle was part of the dilemma. He seemed to have lost all his abilities or miles away from his form of last year. In summer 2014, he was one of Germany's World Cup heroes. He was the man who provided the pass for Mario Goetze to score the only goal in the 1-0 win against Argentina in the 2014 World Cup final.

Schuerrle, a specialist for fast attacks down the left flank, joined VfL Wolfsburg in February 2015 from the Premier League giant Chelsea for 32 million euros. With his signature in Wolfsburg came high expectations he could not fulfill. His market value declined to only 14 million euros, until that is last weekend when two of his assists led to a 6-0 victory over Werder Bremen in the Bundesliga. They have now been followed by his Moscow goals.

Schuerrle after his transfer was far from a special figure in Wolfsburg. After only a few weeks he lost his place among the starting eleven and was on the bench most of the time. To be sent on as a substitute for the last minutes seemed to be all he could hope for.

For weeks, Schuerrle heard the same message: You're not doing enough. A week ago, Wolfsburg's CEO Klaus Allofs expressed his disappointment by saying: "We expect more from him, he does not reach his limits. He has to improve right now. He is not only part of the team, but a player of whom we expect to be one of the leaders."

Wolfsburg's new team had problems after Kevin de Bruyne (Manchester City/85 million euros) and Ivan Perisic (Inter Milan/19 million euros) left. Max Kruse and Julian Draxler could not close the gap together with Schuerrle. In their case, not only Wolfsburg was disappointed but Germany's head-coach Joachim Loew too.

Schuerrle, Kruse and Draxler have a realistic chance of being selected for Loew's squad for the 2016 European Championship in France next summer. So far all three seemed to be far away from being named for the squad for the tournament.

Lately Kruse has improved, and now Schuerrle seems to be following in his teammate's footsteps.

"I have been through hard times but I didn't lose the confidence in myself and what I can do for the team," said Schuerrle.

"It was a great evening for me in Moscow as it was for all of our team. I'm happy that I could support the team with two goals. But I know I have to continue with good performances. After all I want to be part of the German team in France and make Wolfsburg happy," said Schuerrle with a big smile in his face.

"There are ups and downs in football. I have experienced that before. You have to fight, and not to think about giving up. But maybe I was full of doubts about my performances too much. Now I feel that I am improving again and don't think too much about what could go wrong," Schuerrle said.

After nine month full of doubts, the World Cup winner now seems to be on the way back to happiness. In a few weeks, when he meets his German World Cup teammate Bastian Schweinsteiger and Manchester United, he could well be the Andre Schuerrle everyone wanted him to be when he joined Wolfsburg.

"Now we want to make the last step into the next round," said Schuerrle in Moscow. More goals from him would help. Endi