Dženan Pejčinović grasps opportunity to impress with maiden Wolfsburg goals
Dženan Pejčinović seized his opportunity to impress, marking his return to Wolfsburg’s starting line-up with a spectacular hat-trick to open his Bundesliga account.
In the absence of Mohamed Amoura, who is on Africa Cup of Nations duty with Algeria, Daniel Baier, newly-appointed Wolfsburg head coach on a permanent basis, called upon Pejčinović to lead VfL’s attack against Freiburg on Saturday.
After failing to score in his first 17 Bundesliga appearances, Pejčinović equalised in the 13th minute after making an intelligent diagonal run behind Freiburg's defence, firing a powerful left-footed effort past Noah Atubolu from a tight angle.
The German youth international then put his side ahead, capitalising on Atubolu’s mistake, intercepting his pass before slotting the ball into an empty net. He then seized on a perfectly placed header from Patrick Wimmer, exhibiting excellent composure to lash in his third of the afternoon.
Watch: Wolfsburg 3-4 Freiburg - highlights
Completing a 56 minute hat-trick, the 20-year-old became the first Wolfsburg player to score a hat-trick since Max Kruse against Mainz in April 2022.
In doing so, he became the youngest German player to score three goals in a Bundesliga match since Thomas Müller (20 years and 230 days) for Bayern Munich in 2010.
Despite his maiden professional hat-trick, Pejčinović ended up on the losing side. “It’s difficult for me to be happy," he told DAZN afterwards. "But of course, the first goals are something special for me.”
With Amoura - who is Wolfsburg’s leading goalscorer this season with six goals - absent and Jonas Wind yet to find the net after eight appearances this season, Pejčinović’s goalscoring exploits against Freiburg were very welcome.
A prolific forward at youth level, Pejčinović is already ranked joint-second alongside Wimmer for Bundesliga goals in 2025/26. A towering forward at 1.88m, the former Augsburg academy graduate also puts in the hard yards.
No VfL player covered more than his 12.4 kilometres on Matchday 15, making him a constant nuisance for the opposition defence, both in pressing from the front, or stretching defences with calculated runs in behind.
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