VfL Wolfsburg Women have won the DFB Cup for the seventh time. In a highly dramatic final in Cologne, Stephan Lerch’s side triumphed against SGS Essen thanks to goals from Pernille Harder, Anna Blässe and Dominique Janssen in normal time, and two saved penalties from Friederike Abt as VfL won 7-5 on penalties (3-3 a.e.t.).
The She-Wolves have thus set a new record of six consecutive cup titles, while they have also become the first team ever to win four doubles in a row. It takes their total trophy haul since 2013 to 15, and there’s one more up for grabs in the 2019/20 season with the UEFA Women’s Champions League final-eight tournament taking place in Spain at the end of August.
Golden girls
At 19:45 CEST, the DFB Cup was back in VfL hands. Just six days after captains Pernille Harder and Alexandra Popp had jointly lifted the FLYERALARM Women’s Bundesliga shield following the 5-0 win over Bayer 04 Leverkusen, the duo got to hoist the cup aloft in a shower of gold confetti in Cologne and celebrate with their teammates.
It crowns a phenomenal 2019/20 campaign for the She-Wolves, who remain unbeaten in all competitions. In fact, they have not tasted defeat since losing 4-2 to Olympique Lyonnais in the second leg of their 2018/19 Women’s Champions League quarter-final on 27 March 2019.
“We’re proud“
VfL head coach Stephan Lerch: It was an exciting, thrilling match that had a lot going on. I think my team deserves some praise for staying cool after they went behind. We then had more possession and got what we deserved in terms of the equaliser and then the goal to put us in front. When you win on penalties, there’s always a certain element of luck involved and that was on our side today. We’re just happy to be bringing the cup back to Wolfsburg again. It was a great match and we’re proud that we won through in the end.
VfL Wolfsburg: Abt – Blässe, Doorsoun, Goeßling, Janssen – Engen (97‘ Neto), Popp – Huth (89‘ Wolter), Harder, Rolfö (71‘ Maritz) – Pajor
SGS Essen: Johannes – Klasen, Brüggemann, Hegering, Ostermeier – Anyomi (64‘ Petzelberger), Feldkamp, Oberdorf, Senß – Schüller, Knaak (78‘ Ioannidou)
Goals: 0-1 Schüller (1‘), 1-1 Harder (11‘), 1-2 Hegering (17‘), 2-2 Blässe (71‘), 3-2 Janssen (86‘), 3-3 Ionannidou (90‘)
PSO: 4-3 Janssen, 4-4 Schüller, 5-4 Neto, 5-5 Oberdorf, Popp misses, Ioannidou (Abt saves), 6-5 Goeßling, Brüggemann (Abt saves), 7-5 Harder
Referee: Nadine Westerhoff (Bochum)
Yellow cards: Harder, Blässe / Anyomi
