Despite the VfL Wolfsburg women’s first defeat of the season, Ralf Kellermann is optimistic about the decisive phase of the season. The sporting director also announced the farewells to Rebecka Blonqvist and Pauline Bremer.
It’s rare that Kellermann has to talk about defeats. The sporting director of the Wolfsburg soccer team has experienced only one so far this season – the 1: 2 in the Bundesliga last Saturday against TSG Hoffenheim. “It was a pitch-black day on which seven to eight of our players were nowhere near their normal form,” said Kellermann on Wednesday. “But I sense a lot of self-criticism in the team and see it as a one-off slip-up,” the 54-year-old continued.
VfL women still have everything in their own hands
In fact, the VfL women, for whom the game continues next Sunday at Leverkusen, who are sixth in the table, still have everything in their own hands, despite this sporting lesson. At the top of the table, they have a two-point lead over their closest rivals from Bayern Munich. “Bayern definitely have the quality to become champions,” Kellermann believes, “but so do we.” A preliminary indication of who may receive the championship trophy in May will already be given at the end of the month. Because on March 25, VfL Wolfsburg will be in a direct duel with the Munich team.
In the past ten seasons, the two clubs had virtually decided the championship among themselves – seven times with the better end for Wolfsburg, Bayern won the title three times.
Big games also in Champions League and DFB-Pokal
The two top German clubs are once again involved in the race for the title across all competitions. In the Champions League they could meet in the semi-finals – provided that the women from Wolfsburg advance in their quarter-finals against Paris Saint-Germain (on March 22 away, on March 30 in the big VfL Arena) and the women from Munich can beat Arsenal switch off from London.
In the DFB Cup, the duel between the two permanent rivals is already perfect in the semifinals on April 15 in Munich. He was “very briefly, for two minutes, annoyed during the draw on Sunday evening” that his VfL had to play away and that “we couldn’t avoid Bayern,” admitted Kellermann.
Because a Wolfsburg final against Bayern “could have set a record attendance in a season like this after the exciting European Championship”. Only one of the two clubs will make it to the final in Cologne, where they will play against SC Freiburg or second division club RB Leipzig in mid-May.
Who will replace Blomqvist and Bremer?
But Kellermann also looked beyond the current season and officially confirmed what many had long suspected: the departure of the two offensive players Blomqvist and Bremer, whose contracts are expiring. Blomqvist would have liked to keep VfL, but the Swede declined. Bremer, on the other hand, does not get a new offer from the club. Therefore, at least two field players should be brought to Wolfsburg to compensate for the departures.
It has been known for a long time that another German international, Chantal Hagel, is coming to Wolfsburg for the new season. The 24-year-old changes from league rivals TSG Hoffenheim and should strengthen the midfield at VfL. “She definitely has the qualities to earn a place in the top eleven here,” said Kellermann about her prospects.
“Biggest construction site” in the VfL goal
There is even more movement in the Wolfsburg goalkeeper team at the end of the season: Katarzyna Kiedrzynek, like Bremer, does not get a new contract, Julia Kassen wants to look for a new sporting challenge and Lisa Weiß ends her career. “For me mentally, that was the biggest construction site in the last few months,” admitted former goalkeeper Kellermann. “With our ambitions, we need at least two goalkeepers with Bundesliga experience behind our number one Merle Frohms, ideally also with international experience.”
Kellermann has made sure of that in recent weeks: on the one hand with Lisa Schmitz, who has played for Leverkusen and Potsdam in the course of her career. The 30-year-old comes from the French league from HSC Montpellier. On the other hand with Anneke Borbe from Werder Bremen, who despite being only 22 years old can already show almost 70 Bundesliga appearances. In addition, the German U19 national goalkeeper Kiara Beck is to move up from the second Wolfsburg team to the professional squad.
But all this is still in the future. The VfL women want to collect as many titles as possible by the end of the season. The big dream is and remains the triple of championship, cup and champions league. The women from Wolfsburg had managed this feat only once – in 2013, exactly ten years ago. The coach at the time was Ralf Kellermann…
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Sports current | 09.03.2023 | 8:17 a.m
