Wolfsburg returned to the Champions League after a six-year absence with a win over CSKA Moscow on Tuesday, but sporting director Klaus Allofs was left fuming as many fans stayed away.

Germany international Julian Draxler's first-half goal, his first for the club since moving from Schalke, sealed a 1-0 victory over the Russian side, but just 20,126 spectators turned up at the Volkswagen Arena.

Capacity for European matches is 26,500 and the gate figure was boosted because Wolfsburg had invited 1,200 refugees to watch the match for free.

"I didn't hear the Champions League anthem before the game, because I was busy looking where our fans were," fumed Allofs.

"The team doesn't deserve that and we will do everything in our power to change it."

Allofs gave a simple answer when asked where the problem lay, "in a city of 125,000 inhabitants", but while the German Cup holders are used to capacity crowds in domestic matches, the visit of CSKA appeared to hold less appeal.

A sell-out 30,000 crowd watched their 3-0 Bundesliga win over Shalke on a Friday night a fortnight ago with the capacity set higher for German league matches.

There is, however, a very practical explanation to the low crowd.

The local Volkswagen car plant is just 500m from the stadium, but the factory's late shift started at 2200 local time (2000 GMT) and the game was due to finish soon after.

In 2009, Volkswagen, who sponsor Wolfsburg, changed the shift times so their fans could see their team play in the Champions League.

Wolfsburg will hope sell-out crowds turn out for their next two home games in Group B against PSV Eindhoven and Manchester United.