Confidence for the substitute: Pavao Pervan will be in goal for VfL Wolfsburg on Tuesday when the stakes are high at FC Sevilla in the Champions League
When the Wolfsburg squad took to the pitch at the Estadio Ramon Sanchez-Pizjuan for final training at 6.32pm, one was missing: Koen Casteels did not make the trip to Andalusia, having tested positive for COVID-19 on Sunday evening after developing symptoms. The captain will therefore be missing in the all-important penultimate group game in Seville.
“Of course we don’t have to lie it away,” says Florian Kohfeldt. “If the captain is absent at short notice, then that’s not something you’re happy about.” Demonstratively, however, the coach remains calm. Because: “I also want to emphasise that we have a replacement in Pavo who is extremely reliable, who plays an important role in the team in addition to his quality as a goalkeeper. He is a leader, although he doesn’t always play. “
Meant to be Pavao Pervan, Wolfsburg’s stand-in keeper, who will make his Champions League debut on Tuesday . Niklas Klinger, the third in the goalkeeping bunch, will take his place on the bench, and junior keeper Philipp Schulze has also been called up to the pros. “I’m very sorry for Koen “, Kohfeldt explained, only to turn his attention directly back to Pervan: “It’s not a huge issue for us, we will have a very good and confident goalkeeper in goal.”
Josuha Guilavogui is also convinced of that. “Whenever,” he says, “Pavo has played, he has performed well. “ The Frenchman, who is ready for action after calf problems and was on the pitch for final training, was in telephone contact with Casteels on Sunday. “He’s fine,” Guilavogui reported, “he has no serious symptoms.” In Sevilla, however, it will be up to Pervan to fix it.
