VfL Wolfsburg Women have a mountain to climb in their UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-final against holders FC Barcelona after a 5-1 defeat in the first leg on Friday evening. Aitana Bonmati (3’), ex-She-Wolf Caroline Hansen (10’), Jennifer Hermoso (33’) and Alexia Putellas (38’, 85’ pen) scored the goals for Barca in front of 91,648 at Camp Nou, with the Green-and-Whites only offering a Jill Roord goal (71’) in reply.
Tommy Stroot’s side therefore need something special in the return leg at the Volkswagen Arena next Saturday, 30 April (kick-off 18:00 CEST), if they are to still reach the final.
Reaction
Tommy Stroot: “Over the past few weeks, we’ve basically done a lot of things differently, and today we didn’t have the courage or the consistency to do that again. If you back off Barca and give them two metres, they’ll have all the time they need to find space. We seemed to be playing with the brake on, maybe due to the size of the stadium and the importance of the match. In the second half, we had a better handle on our basic shape, but you have to say that Barca still dictated the game after the change of ends. Beating a team like this 5-1 or more in the return leg may not be a realistic approach, but we’ll still be looking to go out there and give a much better account of ourselves. And to do that, we need to start off by changing the little things.”
Line-ups and stats
FC Barcelona: Panos – Torrejon, Paredes, Leon, Rolfö – Bonmati (81‘ Caldentey), Patri, Putellas (90’ Engen) – Hansen (89’ Leila), Hermoso (73’ Oshoala), Crnogorcevic (73’ Pina)
Subs: Font (GK), Munoz (GK), Pereira, Serrano, Perez
VfL Wolfsburg: Schult – Wedemeyer, Hendrich, Janssen, Rauch – Lattwein, Popp (61‘ Pajor) – Huth, Roord (76’ Blomqvist/90‘+1 Starke), Jonsdottir (90‘+1 Knaak) – Waßmuth
Subs: Kassen (GK), Wagner (GK), Wilms, Blässe, Bremer, Smits, van de Sanden
Goals: 1-0 Bonmati (3’), 2-0 Hansen (10’), 3-0 Hermoso (33’), 4-0 Putellas (38’), 4-1 Roord (70’), 5-1 Putellas (85’, pen)
Yellow cards: – / Pajor, Janssen
Referee: Sandra Bastos (Portugal)
Attendance: 91,648 at Camp Nou
