Pejčinović doubles down as Wolfsburg win seven-goal thriller | OneFootball

With the DFB-Pokal just three weeks from getting underway, and the Bundesliga season four weeks from beginning, VfL Wolfsburg made the trip east to Sachsen-Anhalt on Saturday afternoon to face 1. FC Magdeburg at the Avnet Arena, in their first full preseason match.

With Christian Titz, new Hannover coach, leading the squad, Magdeburg finished fifth in a chaotic 2. Bundesliga season in 2024/25, narrowly missing out on the promotion/relegation playoff by just five points. Meanwhile, between Ralph Hasenhüttl and Daniel Bauer, Wolfsburg finished in the bottom-half of the Bundesliga table, eleventh with an 11-10-13 record, 43 points and a +2 goal differential. Now, both sides have changed coaches, with Markus Fiedler and Paul Simonis taking the full-time positions - and this was their first opportunity to test their strategies, as well as give some players an opportunity to shine.

One of those players was 20-year-old German international Dženan Pejčinović, who has only played five matches in a Wolfsburg uniform in the Bundesliga, and played most of last season on loan to Fortuna Düsseldorf, where he scored 5 goals in 19 matches.

Pejčinović made an excellent first impression five minutes in, running into the gap between Marcus Mathisen and Dominik Reimann before taking advantage of an errant Mathisen pass back to the 28-year-old goalkeeper. With Reimann out of his net, Pejčinović tapped the ball over the line and into the bottom-left corner to give Wolfsburg the lead.

After numerous chances from the twenty-fifth minute onward, Magdeburg would find an equaliser just before halftime. Barış Atik, from half-field, sent a long ball to the edge of the penalty area where Martijn Kaars was located. With Denis Vavro trying to keep pace, and Kamil Grabara charging out of his net, the 26-year-old Dutch forward lobbed the ball above the Polish goalkeeper with his right foot to draw the hosts level.

Atik and Kaars would help set up the goal that would give Magdeburg the lead as well, just three minutes into the second half; this time, it would be an Atik through ball that went between Maximilian Arnold and Kevin Paredes. Kaars' initial left-footed shot, from the left side of the Wolfsburg penalty area, deflected off the right post; however, Magnus Baars would make sure that the hosts would have their second goal by slamming the rebound with his left foot.

Wolfsburg would then equalise the match at two apiece, just over an hour in. Pejčinović and Václav Černý connected on a series of passes as the latter ran into the centre of the Magdeburg penalty area; with Mathisen about to take the ball away, Černý quickly took a shot towards the bottom-left corner with his left foot, which Reimann could not see through a series of screens.

18-year-old academy talent Jan Bürger would give Wolfsburg the lead just nine minutes later, winning possession from Atik in the centre of the field and, with open space, running towards the edge of the box; he then finished an incredible individual effort by powering a left-footed shot past a leaping Reimann, off the right post and over the line.

Despite holding a one-goal lead and maintaining possession throughout, Die Wölfe were not in the clear, as seven minutes after that, a Lubambo Musanda pass back, from the right side of the Wolfsburg penalty area to the edge of the goal area, met the right boot of Philipp Hercher. Hercher's hard shot went above a leaping Grabara and into the centre of the net, and just like that, Magdeburg were even at three.

Wolfsburg would end up retaking the lead with five minutes remaining in the match, and it would be Pejčinović that made the difference, heading in a Kevin Paredes cross from the right side of the Magdeburg third. With no time added on and no response from the hosts, VfL Wolfsburg emerged the victors, taking the match by four goals to three.

The next stop for VfL Wolfsburg is De Kuip in Rotterdam, a place that coach Paul Simonis knows quite well; before taking the Wolfsburg role, Simonis coached Go Ahead Eagles in the Eredivisie. That match will take place on Wednesday, with the kickoff set for 16:20 (CET). As for 1. FC Magdeburg, they will face 2. Bundesliga opponents Eintracht Braunschweig next Sunday, with kickoff at 13:30 (CET).