López runs the show as Wolfsburg tear Köln apart

The ball broke to the edge of the box and Raúl López did not think. One touch to set himself, then the strike, low and hard, and the Roy Präger Stadium erupted. That was the second goal of his afternoon. It was the moment the game belonged to him.

Wolfsburg beat 1. FC Köln 5-1. López scored two and made one. Five key passes, five tackles won, five interceptions, fourteen and a half kilometres run. A 9.9 rating. The best player on the pitch by a street.

He is thirty-five. Remember that. He ran more than anyone else in a Wolfsburg shirt, and he ran it in the right places. When Köln had the ball, there he was, breaking it up. When Wolfsburg had it, he was the one moving it forward. Cristiano Donati was excellent beside him with two assists and six key passes, but the afternoon was López's.

Eduardo Giddens got two goals of his own before he came off on 66 minutes. Gustavo García came on for him and scored too. Beni Buzorgi, on in the 56th minute, set one up. Köln's one reply came from Tomas Ibáñez, who was booked on the hour.

And there was Betinho in the Köln back line, a man who wore the Wolfsburg shirt for four seasons and won nothing in it. He knows what this club can do. This time he was on the wrong end of it.

Köln were missing Henrik Rasmussen in midfield, a hamstring strain, and Julian Leiding came in for him. Vladimir Acevedo, the new man from Pumas de la UNAM, started on the left. It made no difference to the direction of the match. Wolfsburg had twenty shots to Köln's six. They hit the woodwork twice. They had the clear chances and they took most of them.

López took his. Two goals, one assist, and a performance that told the Bundesliga exactly what Wolfsburg are about this season. The squad has been rebuilt — new faces in, old faces out — but the Argentinian is the one who makes it work. Thirty-three caps for his country, four clubs behind him, and still this hungry.

Köln go home with nothing. Wolfsburg go on with a warning for the rest: when López plays like this, there is not much anyone can do about it.

That is the verdict. Not a lucky afternoon. Not a one-off. A thirty-five-year-old midfielder putting on a show and dragging his team with him. The Bundesliga should sit up and take notice.