Thursday, 28 May 2020

22-Year-Old Croatian Stopper Marin Pongracic 'Man of the Hour' in Bundesliga

May 28, 2020 - Marin Pongracic played two great games in the space of only four days for German club Wolfsburg.

Gol.hr reports that in the last four days, the future stopper of the Croatia national team, Marin Pongracic, presented himself in a phenomenal way to the German and international football public. In his fifth appearance for Wolfsburg, he scored two of four goals in a big 4-1 win over Bayer Leverkusen.

Pongracic scored twice by a header, but many may have been even more surprised by his significant reactions in defense, where he was faced with two hellish attackers, the best in the league.

Recall, just four days earlier, Wolfsburg welcomed Borussia Dortmund and was defeated 2-0. But Pongracic played great in that match and made Erling Haaland, the Norwegian attacking sensation who has scored 41 goals in the Austrian and German leagues so far this season, completely invisible.

He did the same last night to Kai Havertz, who scored 14 goals this season for Bayer.

"The man of the game! In just the fifth appearance, 22-year-old stopper Marin Pongracic led Wolfsburg to victory with two headers," reads the Bundesliga announcement on social media.

During the match against Borussia, Pongracic achieved a sprint speed of as much as 34 km / h, which is only two km / h less than the Bundesliga record held by Achraf Hakimi.

Pongracic arrived in Wolfsburg in January for 10 million euro from Salzburg, Austria. Born in Landshut, Germany and of Croatian descent, Pongracic joined the Croatia U17 team in 2014 after he was called up for training camp. 

Marin’s senior football career began in 2016 for 1860 Munich II, following by a season with 1860 Munich, and 34 appearances for Red Bull Salzburg, before joining Wolfsburg in 2020. 

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Monday, 27 August 2018

Brekalo Refuses to Wear Wolfsburg Rainbow Armband, Cites 'Christianity' as Reason

Bundesliga club Wolfsburg wears rainbow-colored armbands to support the LGBT community, though former Dinamo player Josip Brekalo refuses to be one of them. 

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