Matchday 3 of the UEFA Women’s Champions League sees VfL Wolfsburg face what is widely regarded as their toughest challenge in their quest to top Group B – a trip to AS Roma (kick-off 21:00 CET on Wednesday 23 November). Both teams have won their opening two games of the group stage but the She-Wolves’ superior goal difference means they sit just above their Italian opponents, who lead the way in Serie A Femminile and boast a 100 per cent record in the UWCL this season.
Ahead of VfL’s 84th match in the competition, head coach Tommy Stroot answered questions on…
…personnel: “Sara Agrez and Lisa Weiß are out, so Katarzyna Kiedrzynek will join [fellow goalkeeper] Julia Kassen. Lena Oberdorf will take part in our final training session at Elsterweg today, after which we’ll decide whether she can travel with us.”
…the opponents: “If you think back to when the draw was made, AS Roma were definitely underestimated by a lot of people. Roma’s win in the Italian Super Cup against Juventus speaks volumes about their quality. They’re doing very well in the league and have a lot of international experience, plus they’re very well-drilled. In all the videos you can see everything you’d expect from an Italian side. You can see yellow cards being demanded and little fouls being exaggerated – that’s what we’re facing.”
…VfL’s approach: “We’re up against opponents who will demand everything from us, both in a sporting sense and in other ways. This is the same kind of task as the games against Hoffenheim and Bayern. For me, this is a bit like a last-16 tie. We’re playing the home and away games back-to-back and know that we can come out on top in the head-to-head. That’s why we’re approaching this game in the same way – although we’d prefer to win both games, which is a possibility for us. We’ve all grown really excited about the trip to Rome and nobody needs any extra motivation.”
