The footballers of VfL Wolfsburg dismantled pursuers FC Bayern Munich in a show of force and made a giant step towards the championship.
The leaders of the women’s Bundesliga won the top game against the defending champion 6-0 (3-0).
VfL extended the lead to four points with three remaining matchdays. “I have too much respect to speak of a preliminary decision,” said VfL coach Tommy Stroot, adding: “We know we have a great lead and we want to decide.”
6:0 – “Reward for the hard work”
In front of 3,037 spectators in the AOK Stadium, Wolfsburg shocked their opponents at the start of the game with a wonderful long-range hit by Svenja Huth in the 8th minute. “In the end, 6-0 sounds very clear, but we had to work hard for that,” said Huth. “We didn’t expect such a result, but this is the reward for the hard work.”
Joelle Wedemeyer (33′) and Tabea Waßmuth (39′) made things clear in the first half. Alexandra Popp scored another goal worth seeing with a diving header (77th). Lena Oberdorf (82nd) and Ewa Pajor (90th + 1) increased to 6:0.
“I don’t want to say Sunday shots, but somehow we already burned Sunday shots today. Of course that plays into your hands when we take a 1-0 lead so early,” said Wolfsburg midfielder Alexandra Popp.
Despite goal proximity no success for Bayern
Bayern coach Jens Scheuer had proclaimed a “final” before the game and reacted to VfL’s dominance with three changes at the beginning of the second half. Although the Bayern women approached the opposing goal more often, there were no clear chances.
“Many individual mistakes cost us the game,” said Scheuer, who saw the result as an exception: “I’d rather lose 6-0 once than 1-0 six times.” The stress of the past few days may also have been reflected: while FC Bayern had to deal with the bitter quarter-finals in the premier class in Paris, VfL made it into the last four teams.
The last German champion not named Bayern or Wolfsburg was Turbine Potsdam in 2012. And Bayern meets third in the table on the last day of the game on May 15. Wolfsburg has the easier rest of the program and no longer has a top team to oppose. But the opportunity for revenge soon presents itself: on April 17, both teams will meet in the DFB Cup semifinals in Munich.