VfL Wolfsburg Women have taken part in no fewer than 71 Champions League matches already since they first qualified back in 2012 – and yet all of them have been knock-out ties. Number 72 will be the two-time winners’ first ever group match, and what a clash it promises to be in the UEFA Women’s Champions League, with the opponents on Wednesday 6 October (kick-off at 21:00 CEST, live on DAZN) being Chelsea Women in London.
This opening Group A match is not just a chance for the She-Wolves to exact revenge for their quarter-final defeat last season, but will also be the ninth time that the two sides have met on the biggest of European stages. At the press conference ahead of the match, coach Tommy Stroot spoke about…
…the situation: “It’s nice not to be the favourite for once. Anyone who takes on Chelsea knows everything that’s been invested in the club. But it’s our ambition to give a good account of ourselves in London and to take something away from the game.”
…the team’s approach: “Chelsea have the kind of quality that you rarely come across in Europe. Their strength up front for example with Kerr and Harder is something that you can’t find solutions for on an individual player basis. We want to come up with a combination of stability, depth and balance. Finding solutions against opponents like Chelsea is what makes football such a fascinating game.”
…Felicitas Rauch: “For Feli we specifically decided to focus on this match for her comeback. She has been training with the team for a week now and we’re obviously going to have to look at how many minutes will make sense for her. But we wouldn’t have taken Feli with us if she weren’t available to play.”
…Ewa Pajor’s absence: “Ewa is an exceptional striker who can really make the difference between two teams at a high level like this one. Replacing her is very tough – we all know that only too well and we’ll have to come up with something as a group to do it.”
Wölfe TV: VLOG - London Calling
