VfL Wolfsburg Women face defending champions Barcelona in the first leg of the UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-final this evening (kick-off 18:45 CEST). Ahead of the match, which is set to be played in front of a capacity crowd of 90,000 at Camp Nou, Alexandra Popp spoke to us about the fans, their opponents and the dreams of winning the title.
Alexandra, will the sheer size of the attendance have an influence on how the team plays?
Alexandra Popp: “That may well be the case. I’ve had the impression that since the tie was drawn, the only thing that anyone has been talking about is Camp Nou. You can really feel the anticipation. For us experienced players who’ve often played in packed stadiums, though, we need to put an arm around the youngsters’ shoulders and make sure they feel in the right frame of mind.”
Barcelona have won every match so far this season in the Spanish league, with 146 goals scored and just eight conceded. How to you set about facing such a fearsome attack?
Alexandra: “Those statistics are very impressive, no doubt about it. What’s interesting though is that this is exactly what they’ve been working on in recent years. We’ll obviously need to play really well in defence, but the same applies up front and we can’t hide ourselves away in attack because that’s where we have some quality as well. We need defence and attack to interlock seamlessly to get a positive result in these matches.”
Three of your former team-mates – Ingrid Engen, Caroline Hansen and Fridolina Rolfö – now play for Barcelona. Is that going to be an advantage because you know their strengths and weaknesses in detail?
Alexandra: “First and foremost, I’m just looking forward to seeing them all again, particularly Caro – it’s been a long time since she was here, more so than Ingrid and Frido. All three of them are top players and in theory we know how we need to play them. But they’ve got such quality to their games, so you can’t simply rely on thinking: ‘Caro always goes round you on the left so tighten up the left side.’ That won’t work. But yes, the fact that we know them a bit better than most certainly won’t hinder us.”
You’ve won the Champions League twice with VfL. How keen are you to get your hands on it for a third time?
Alexandra: “Obviously I’d like to win the Champions League again, especially because we’ve already come so far as a team this season. When you get this close, you want to get through to the final and once you’re there, you want to win the whole thing.”
