In little over 90 minutes of playing time, Mateo Klimowicz has already made a name for himself in the Bundesliga. On Saturday, the 20-year-old became only the eighth player to follow in their father’s footsteps by getting on the scoresheet in Germany’s top flight. The Argentinian coolly finished off a swift counter-attack just five minutes after coming on to put VfB 3-1 up in their first win of the new season and their first away success at Mainz in 15 years.
His first goal in his second Bundesliga appearance was a breakthrough moment for Klimowicz – much to his and his father Diego’s delight. “I’m very happy,” beamed the 20-year-old, who was still on a high as the team resumed training on Tuesday. “Two or three days have passed now but I still can’t believe it. After the match, I just spent the whole journey home replying to congratulations messages.”
Hungry for more
His first goal in a VfB shirt has given the attacking talent a taste for it, and now he wants “to score many more goals”. However, Mateo does not see himself as being in a competition with his father, who’s exactly 26 years his senior and netted 70 times in the Bundesliga, putting him in 22nd place in the all-time list of foreign goalscorers. “My dad and all my family were pleased for me,” said Mateo. “I’ve still got a long way to go, but scoring more goals than my dad is not my aim. Now I want to score my next goal, and so it goes on.”
Klimowicz’s next opportunity is in this Saturday’s home match against Bayer 04 Leverkusen (kick-off 15:30 CEST), and he’s clearly confident ahead of the clash at the Mercedes-Benz Arena: “We’re doing our best and believe we can get a result against Leverkusen.”