The She-Wolves produced a dominant performance as goals from Alexandra Popp and Ewa Pajor secured a 2-0 victory over Bayern Munich in the semi-finals of the DFB Cup – VfL’s 34th consecutive win in the competition. FLYERALARM Women’s Bundesliga leaders Bayern had won all 26 games in all competitions so far this season but slipped to their first defeat of the campaign at the AOK Stadion.
Stephan Lerch’s side applied pressure from the get-go and were unfortunate not to take the lead when Rebecka Blomqvist struck the crossbar with a long-range effort after 10 minutes. The She-Wolves were celebrating three minutes later, though, as Svenja Huth ran onto Pajor’s pass down the right before getting to the byeline and sending a perfectly weighted cross towards Popp, who fired VfL in front. After doubling their lead through Pajor on the stroke of half-time, the Green-and-Whites defended doggedly in the second half to secure the win.
VfL will face Eintracht Frankfurt in the final in Cologne on 30 May after they beat SC Freiburg 2-1 in the other semi-final on Saturday.
“Players rose to the challenge”
VfL head coach Stephan Lerch: “We showed today that we’re a force to be reckoned with. The team showed a very strong reaction today and focused on the basics. The players rose to the challenge. We were simply the better team, were more aggressive in the tackles and managed to put Bayern under pressure, which they probably didn’t expect. It was a pressure situation for all of us and I’m delighted the team handled it so well.”
VfL Wolfsburg: Kiedrzynek – Hendrich, Doorsoun, Janssen, Rauch – Oberdorf, Engen – Huth, Popp (87‘ Jakabfi), Blomqvist (46‘ Rolfö), Pajor (72‘ van de Sanden)
FC Bayern München: Benkarth – Glas (62‘ Simon), Wenninger (46‘ Soerensen), Hegering, Ilestedt – Magull, Zadrazil (82‘ Laudehr) – Beerensteyn, Dallmann (46‘ Asseyi), Bühl – Schüller
Goals: 1-0 Popp (13‘), 2-0 Pajor (45‘)
Referee: Susann Kunkel (Eichede)
Yellow cards: Blomqvist, Popp, Oberdorf / -
Red card: Soerensen (90‘)
