Alexandra Popp and VfL Wolfsburg are experiencing a very bitter evening. After the 0:2 (0:1) against Paris FC, the Wolves miss the Champions League.
Alexandra Popp put her hands over her head, then the exhausted captain sank to the ground in disappointment: 137 days after the painful final defeat against FC Barcelona, the VfL Wolfsburg footballers experienced another very bitter evening in the Champions League. The German cup winners lost the second leg of the last qualifying round against Paris FC 0-2 (0-1) on Wednesday and thus missed the group stage.
“It’s a huge disappointment,” said Ralf Kellermann, director of women’s football at VfL, “because we’re looking forward to these duels and the group phase and want to compete with the best in Europe. That’s extremely painful at first.” Since 2012, the two-time winner (2013 and 2014) has always been at least in the quarter-finals.
Coach Tommy Stroot’s team had already put themselves in dire straits with the 3-3 draw in the first leg last week. The she-wolves couldn’t withstand the great pressure. “We don’t need excuses, we just didn’t bring it to the pitch in both games as we can,” said Kellermann.
In a disappointing first half, Julie Dufour (38th) shocked Wolfsburg before the break. In front of 3,747 spectators – including interim national coach Horst Hrubesch – VfL remained unlucky, Dominique Janssen (61st) missed the best chance of equalizing with a penalty kick. In the 90th minute, Louise Fleury made the decision with a counterattack.
It was only thanks to goalkeeper Lisa Schmitz, who again replaced the ailing regular goalkeeper Merle Frohms, that the hosts did not fall behind earlier. The 31-year-old defused several great chances and a hand penalty from Gaetane Thiney (12th). Previously, captain Popp had the ball bounce on her left arm during a tackle.
The Wolves rarely provided relief until the half-time whistle. Nevertheless, Ewa Pajor (22nd) almost turned the game on its head, but her header only hit the post. After the break, VfL put a lot of pressure on, but Popp and Co. were too imprecise in front of the goal.
Eintracht from Frankfurt did better, winning 5-0 in the first duel with Sparta Prague and winning 3-0 (3-0) in the Czech Republic – and making it to the group stage for the first time in their young club history. “I’m very proud,” said coach Niko Arnautis. The player of the evening was the Austrian Barbara Dunst, who scored a hat trick (18th/33rd/43rd).
The SGE follows the footballers from Bayern Munich into the premier class, who had already qualified as champions. The draw will take place in Nyon on October 20th and the group phase begins in mid-November.