The unexpected exit from the Football Champions League before the group stage hurts the VfL Wolfsburg footballers very much. Groundbreaking Bundesliga games against Hoffenheim and Bayern Munich are now coming up.
It actually happened. Reaching the group stage in the premier class is “non-negotiable,” said coach Tommy Stroot before his VfL’s first leg against French capital club Paris FC. The non-negotiability has now become a bitter reality after the disappointing 2-0 defeat in the second leg.
No time to lick wounds
The “Wolfs” have qualified for the Champions League every year since 2012 and even won the title in 2013 and 2014. The Lower Saxony team had to admit defeat in the final four more times, most recently in June against FC Barcelona (2:3). Now the group stage this season will take place without Wolfsburg. Bitter for VfL – and the next setback for German women’s football this year.
There’s no time to lick wounds. The focus is now fully on winning national titles, said Stroot immediately after the game. And there are two top games on the program in the Bundesliga in the coming weeks: On Sunday (2 p.m., in the NDR Livecenter) the still unbeaten second-placed TSG Hoffenheim will be visiting the leaders and after the international break the Wolfsburg women have to face the German champions Bayern Munich (5. November, 3 p.m.).
Popp: “That hurts brutally”
Before these groundbreaking encounters, the Wolfsburg women’s frustration runs deep. “It hurts brutally,” said captain Alexandra Popp after the unexpected knockout and was close to tears: “We were in the final last season – and suddenly you’re not there in the group phase.”
Coach Stroot also spoke of a “big defeat for all of us that we now have to digest.” Because the club has celebrated “many highlights” together in the past. The failure against Paris was therefore very painful: “For me, for the team, for the club.”
The sporting director Ralf Kellermann told the “Wolfsburger Allgemeine” that his club would now have to reorganize itself in view of the lack of Champions League match days: “We will have a completely different program. Fewer travel days, fewer games.”
VfL is missing Champions League income
Financially, the failure represents a bitter blow for the Wolfsburg women. VfL not only misses out on the entry fee of 400,000 euros. Other bonuses will also be missing from the coffers: the club pocketed around 1.1 million euros in the last European Cup season. There was 50,000 euros per win, plus additional extra money for reaching the quarter and semi-finals and 200,000 euros for losing the final.
However, the end before the group phase does not come as a complete surprise. Despite four wins at the start of the Bundesliga season, Wolfsburg’s start to the season was bumpy. Whether recently against Leipzig, before that against Nuremberg, but also in the spectacular 4-2 in Frankfurt or in the cup game in Potsdam: VfL has no rhythm (yet). There were problems in almost every game – both offensively and defensively.
Paris ruthlessly exposes Wolfsburg’s problems
In the Bundesliga it has been enough so far, internationally the deficits against the tactically and physically strong team from Paris have been mercilessly exposed under the eyes of interim women’s national coach Horst Hrubesch: the repeated sluggish starting phases, a defense that lacks speed and who acts from erratic to negligent, the lack of bite in the duels and finally the inability to deal with the high pressing of the opponents.
Only Popp clearly fought against elimination in both games. But Germany’s female footballer of the year can’t do it alone. Too many of her teammates have been dragging their feet for weeks, and some of them are far from their best form – just one example is the otherwise outstanding Lena Oberdorf, whose defensive strength was not visible against Paris.
Season threatens to slip away early
For many of the national players in the VfL squad, the elimination in the group phase at the World Cup Down Under in the summer may still have an impact. In addition, the departure of world-class player Jill Roord (to Manchester City) is more serious than some might admit.
In the games against Hoffenheim and FC Bayern, the “Wolves” can (and must) show a reaction to the bitter end in the Champions League if the season is not to slip away completely from them early on. Such a reaction is even more so: non-negotiable.
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NDR 2 Sport | Oct 18, 2023 | 11:03 p.m
