Women’s Champions League
Slump in extra time: Wolfsburg fails against favorites
April 2, 2026 – 11:39 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
After conceding an early goal, the Wolves defended passionately and saved themselves into extra time. But there they can no longer oppose the favorite.
The record winner is too strong, the constant pressure is too great: the footballers of VfL Wolfsburg failed in the quarter-finals of the Champions League against OL Lyonnes. Coach Stephan Lerch’s team fought against the dominant favorites from France for a long time in the second leg, but ultimately lost 0:4 (0:1, 0:1) after extra time – the 1-0 result from the first leg was not enough for the She-Wolves, there was no further surprise on Thursday evening.
Lily Yohannes (16th), Melchie Dumornay (102nd), Damaris Egurrola (105th + 2) and Tabitha Chawinga (119th) made Wolfsburg’s dream of reaching the top four shattered. Lyon will face defending champions Arsenal FC in the return leg (April 25/26 and May 2/3). Bayern Munich and FC Barcelona will contest the second semi-final.
The she-wolves don’t have much time to process their disappointment. The semi-finals of the DFB Cup at Carl Zeiss Jena are already on Sunday (4.15 p.m./Sky).
Lerch had warned about the French women in advance on Disney+. After the defeat in the first duel, they would go into the clash with “anger in their stomachs”, his team was threatened with a “storm” – he would be right. Lyon, with ex-Wolfsburg player Jule Brand in the starting line-up, put pressure on from the start and restricted Wolfsburg deep in their half.
After national player Camilla Küver lost the ball in her own box, Yohannes finally struck and Janina Minge deflected the shot into the left corner. Keeper Stina Johannes (21st) was there when the midfielder shot another shot from close range.
The Wolfsburg women, who were again missing the injured top performer Alexandra Popp, did not take place offensively. Instead, one attack after the next rolled towards the VfL goal. The hosts just lacked the necessary penetration and so VfL were still well served with the 0-1 deficit at the break.
Even after that, the game went mainly in one direction. Wolfsburg immediately made mistakes when they rarely won the ball; at the back, Johannes kept her team in the game with a brilliant save when Selma Bacha shot (56′). Lyon continued to run almost without interruption, and on a counterattack Janou Levels missed a huge chance for VfL and was denied by goalkeeper Christiane Endler (78′).
Thanks to a strong Johannes in goal, Wolfsburg saved themselves into extra time. There, the supposed opening goal by Marie-Antoinette Katoto was not given after VAR was used; Vicki Becho was offside for the assist (98th). A little later, Dumornay was successful out of the fray after a corner, this time the goal passed the VAR check. Egurrola and Chawinga followed up.
