It was the end of October when the round of 16 in the UEFA Women’s Champions League took place. Since then, Europe’s premier club competition has been on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic – but not anymore. In parallel to the men’s edition, the 2019/20 Champions League winners will be decided in a nine-day finals tournament, held in Bilbao and San Sebastian. That’s where VfL Wolfsburg Women will be travelling to tomorrow, two days before their quarter-final clash with Glasgow City (Friday 21 August, 18:00 CEST, live on SPORT1 and Wölfe TV).
Early journey
The trip to San Sebastian, where VfL Women will be hoping to play three matches, was originally scheduled for Thursday but with UEFA planning testing on site, the team will now be heading to Spain on Wednesday.
Glasgow an unknown quantity
On Thursday the squad will have a look around the Estadio Anoeta, home of Spanish top-flight club Real Sociedad and the venue for all of VfL’s potential games. “Obviously we’re expected to overcome the hurdle of Glasgow,” said head coach Stephan Lerch. The Scottish champions are seen as rank outsiders in the last eight, but are also an unknown quantity. All the analysis for the original fixture that was supposed to happen in March is now of little value as the makeup of the team has changed considerably. City lost 4-0 to Manchester United in their only friendly ahead of the finals tournament.
Gräwe eligible to play
In contrast to the men’s competition, up to six new signings are allowed to take part in the UWCL tournament, although only three may have played for another club during the current campaign. For VfL, that means all members of the current squad – with the exception of Almuth Schult, who will train individually at home – will be there in Spain. Eighteen-year-old Lisanne Gräwe, who got a runout in the recent friendly against Eintracht Frankfurt together with Lotta Cordes, is also eligible and completes the She-Wolves’ 22-woman squad.
