The VfL Wolfsburg women’s team host Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their UEFA Women’s Champions League last 16 tie on Wednesday (kick-off 19:00 CEST). The two sides met in the competition last season, with the Green-Whites progressing thanks to a thumping 12-2 win at home in the return leg. That has no relevance to tomorrow’s clash, though, as head coach Stephan Lerch stressed in his pre-match press conference, where he discussed…
…the sort of game he’s expecting: “I expect Atletico to be brave. They’ll constantly try to close us down and put us under pressure, so it’s important we have the solutions in our build-up play. That style of play also gives us space that we’ll look to exploit and use when we win the ball. I’m expecting an exciting and interesting match between two attack-minded teams, and I expect us to win.”
…clean sheets: “We had a tough opening schedule in which we could’ve conceded the odd goal. The fact we haven’t conceded any goals yet gives us confidence, and we need that against Atletico Madrid just as much as we need defensive solidity. It’ll be a match that demands everything of us.”
…personnel: “Apart from Jana Burmeister and Katharina Baunach, everyone’s available. That means Lena Goeßling and Alex Popp are back in the squad, too.”
