Women

Showdown in store

VfL Women face FC Barcelona in the Women’s Champions League final.

VfL Wolfsburg Women have already won the UEFA Women’s Champions League twice, but lost three further finals to Olympique Lyon. In their sixth continental showpiece the She-Wolves meet FC Barcelona at a sold-out Eindhoven stadium on Saturday (kick-off: 16:00 CEST).

Smooth arrival

At the final training session before the team’s departure for Eindhoven, fans and VfL staff provided a guard of honour as they applauded the VfL Women. As is customary ahead of finals, the VfL squad travelled to the venue two days before the match. As the official away team, the Green-and-Whites were allocated the later slot for their final training session at the Philips Stadium. Accordingly, at 16:30 CEST the players familiarised themselves with the conditions inside the 35,000-capacity arena, which will be packed to the rafters for the match.


Unbeaten She-Wolves

Final opponents Barcelona have already lost once in this season’s competition, coach Jonathan Giraldez’s charges slipping to a 3-1 defeat at Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena. It was ultimately of little consequence, however, as Barcelona still went on to win Group D and were paired with an easier opponent – on paper at least – in AS Roma in the quarter-finals.

Yet as the 2022 Champions League final showed, which Barcelona lost 3-1 to Lyon, it is clear teams that are supposedly superior can nevertheless be beaten. Madrid CFF proved as much in the Spanish league, winning 2-1 on the final matchday of the domestic season, even if Barcelona had already secured their eighth title by then.

VfL, meanwhile, are unbeaten in Europe this term and eliminated two heavyweights in the knockout stage: Paris Saint-Germain and Arsenal. In particular, the dramatic 3-2 victory after extra time in the semi-final second leg in London serves as proof of their own quality.