Vini debut in Wolfsburg: First luck, then yellow

It's an uncomfortable environment: Wolfsburg's new signing Vinicius Souza (center) makes his debut in a VfL jersey against Espanyol Barcelona. IMAGO/DeFodi Images

During the game, Vinicius Souza says with a friendly smile, he doesn't have any friends. After the duel with Espanyol Barcelona, the Brazilian, playing for VfL Wolfsburg, lovingly embraced a few opponents he had vigorously attacked in the first half.

The Wolfsburg newcomer, who recently had to sit out due to a calf injury, still played for the Spanish club in the 2022/2023 season. Now he made his debut in a VfL jersey against his former club. It was a mixed performance, just like the entire game for the Lower Saxony club – the 1-0 defeat against the 14th-placed team from last season's La Liga marked Wolfsburg's first defeat of the preseason.

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30.07.25 - 13:05 12:39 minutes

No reason to panic, says Vini Souza, Wolfsburg's new number 5. Alongside captain Maximilian Arnold , the €15 million signing from Sunderland gave a first taste of his talent. He played with a rather unpretentious approach. Initially, the Brazilian was lucky when, after a pass from Kamil Grabara, he stumbled upon the ball in his own penalty area against a vigorously pressing opponent, only for his goalkeeper to make a powerful save (18').

And then Vinicius received his first yellow card, which he had practically begged for with his tough tackling. "We fight for every ball, so it happens sometimes," he said mischievously.

Wolfsburg can still get over mistakes (like before the 0-1 defeat, when Pavao Pervan made a poor pass and David Odogu inadvertently handled the ball) and defeats; the process is still the focus of this preseason. "Everything is new for everyone," says Vinicius Souza, "new players, new staff. Day by day, we're moving up a level."

The coach hopes so too. Paul Simonis suffered his first defeat at VfL, but the Dutchman wasn't entirely unhappy. "Of course, a lot of things didn't go as we would have hoped, but I think we focused on the essentials, and that was much better than last weekend. So, in that respect, I'm quite satisfied." On Saturday, there was a 4-3 win at 1. FC Magdeburg , but Simonis was particularly dissatisfied with the team's defense. That was the focus now against Espanyol.

"We focused more on being better when we didn't have the ball." The coach was largely satisfied with that on Wednesday evening, but his team had little to offer with the ball. Dzenan Pejcinovic , one of the winners of the preseason so far, was virtually unused in the first half.

The best chance fell to unlucky Odogu, who had a clear header following a Mattias Svanberg free kick, but headed the ball at the keeper (90'). Simonis' overall analysis: "The problem was that we were a bit too sloppy with the ball. We won the ball back, but then you have to hold onto it, and we didn't do that very well today."

So there's still a lot to do for VfL and its new coach, who was able to call on Mohammed Amoura and Vinicius Souza for the first time this preseason. "I'm glad he's here now and can show what he can do," the coach said, delighted with the Brazilian's debut. "You can immediately see how strong he is."

But it's also clear that Wolfsburg's squad is far from complete. Paradoxically, on the one hand, the squad is still far too large, but on the other, reinforcements are still expected. At least one more right-back, and also a striker.

The bloated squad already caused the first disappointments on Wednesday: The young players who had recently been playing were no longer there. Two players remained on the bench for the full 90 minutes: Aster Vranckx and new signing Aaron Zehnter , who was replaced by Yannick Gerhardt at left back in the second half. Simonis: "We have a large squad, and all the players should be able to prove themselves because I'm new here and I want to give everyone a chance to see what they can do." So this time Gerhardt was given the opportunity to prove himself at left back.

One thing is clear: the squad must continue to shrink; there's a surplus of players on the attacking wings, and in the absence of the still-injured Jonas Wind, Pejcinovic is the only real alternative at center forward. Tiago Tomas played up front in the second half and also failed to create a significant chance. Departures are necessary to keep the number of dissatisfied players down. "Every coach," says Simonis, "wants to work with a group in which every player has a clear future. And when you have 27 players, you can't give positions 21 to 27 a future."

The Dutchman will be spoiled for choice again on Saturday (4:30 p.m.) at the next friendly against Feyenoord Rotterdam. The results are still secondary. And so Simonis looked on the positive side of the defeat against Espanyol: "For me, the most important thing is that we took the next step today."