In front of a world record crowd of 91,648 spectators at the Camp Nou, the FC Barcelona players taught VfL Wolfsburg a very bitter lesson in the Champions League.
Coach Tommy Stroot’s team lost 5-1 (4-0) to the defending champions in the first leg of the semi-finals and probably has no chance of reaching the final before the second leg on April 30th. Most recently, 91,553 fans came to the legendary stadium for Barcelona – Real Madrid in the premier class.
Aitana Bonmati (3rd minute), Caroline Hansen (10th), Jennifer Hermoso (33rd) and world footballer Alexia Putellas (38th/84th, penalty kick) scored for the Barça team. On her 25th birthday, Jill Roord reduced the lead to 1:4 (70th) for VfL. The Spanish champions also won their 40th competitive game this season and showed a brilliant performance in terms of play and tactics.
Triple dream as good as burst
The dream of a treble has almost burst for the defensively weak Wolfsburg women, who are on course for the title in the Bundesliga and are in the DFB Cup final. In 2013 and 2014, VfL triumphed in the Champions League. FC Barcelona can probably already book the flight to the final on May 21 in Turin against the winners of the duel Olympique Lyon against Paris Saint-Germain.
With wide eyes and a smile on their lips, the women of Wolfsburg listened to the women’s premier class anthem before the kick-off in front of the historical backdrop. The Barça women quickly tore large gaps in the VfL defense. Bonmati eluded her guards after a free kick and shot goalkeeper Almuth Schult through the legs to make it 1-0. Crnogorcevic from Switzerland also used her free space shortly afterwards to score another goal.
Schult then drummed up her teammates for a short speech. Captain Alexandra Popp replaced the injured Lena Oberdorf in the guests’ starting XI. Wolfsburg’s chances through Svenja Huth were initially thwarted by goalkeeper Sandra Paños (14’/57′).
International striker Tabea Waßmuth, to date the top scorer in the competition with nine goals, hardly got a ball. The 300 fans from Wolfsburg who had traveled with them saw after the break how Barcelona caused VfL many problems with position changes and precise passes. Schult prevented further hits from the far superior opponent before Roord’s goal counted to make it 1:4 according to video evidence.