When the VfL Wolfsburg footballers lost the Champions League final against FC Barcelona at the beginning of June, this defeat was particularly painful. They were leading by two goals and had the Catalans under control quite well until they mercilessly stabbed them three times after the break. “When you’re so close and give the game away, it just hurts so much.”said captain Alexandra Popp at the time, stunned with red eyes. A statement she didn’t want to make again so quickly. But to her own astonishment it was necessary again.
On Wednesday evening, the 32-year-old stood in front of a sponsor’s wall, the club station’s bright green microphone in front of her, and gasped briefly after her first game analysis: “That hurts brutally!” So there it was again, that sentence, packed with perhaps even more disappointment than a few months ago. Because now Popp said it at a phase of the season in which VfL hasn’t had to deal with defeats much in recent years. But the Champions League finalist from 2022/2023 and title holders from 2013 and 2014 has become the temporary surprise team of this competition in an unfortunate way: Wolfsburg didn’t even qualify.
After the 3-3 draw in the first leg last week at Paris FC, Wolfsburg failed to show enough determination. They seemed stressed, looking for solutions and self-confidence, while the guests kept up the pressure and tempo. They had chances to score, but sometimes the post was in the way, sometimes they preferred to play a pass or the shot was too imprecise. Lisa Schmitz, who represented the injured national goalkeeper Merle Frohms, prevented the early deficit with a hand penalty and fended off various chances. But the ball was in twice: first Julie Dufour scored (38th minute), then Louise Fleury (90th).
“If you look at both games or at our games in general, maybe it’s just not enough right now,” says Alexandra Popp
Perhaps Wolfsburg would have progressed if Dominique Janssen (61′) had used a penalty kick to equalize. But Ralf Kellermann, director of women’s football at VfL, had to admit a “huge disappointment”: “We don’t need excuses, we simply didn’t bring it to the pitch in both games as we can.” This means that the entry fee of 400,000 euros is also missing from the cash register. Since 2012, the team has always been at least in the quarterfinals and, apart from the two wins, made it to the finals in 2016, 2018, 2020 and 2023. Naturally, the Wolfsburg women were always among the title candidates.
Wolfsburg coach Tommy Stroot had already predicted in June that it wouldn’t be any easier to get to the Champions League final.
(Photo: Cathrin Mueller/Getty)
It should be little consolation that Paris FC started in France with four wins in four league games, has now collected as many points as league leaders Olympique Lyon and is possibly playing a bigger role than in the recent past. The result also proved what VfL coach Tommy Stroot had said in June: that it won’t be any easier to get to the final in the future, “if you see what’s happening internationally.” He aimed at the growing number of clubs that are investing more and more in women’s football and thus professionalizing the conditions. Paris FC, for example, has been co-financed by the Kingdom of Bahrain since 2020.
The fact that Wolfsburg have had an optimal start to the Bundesliga on paper and are leading the table after four wins in four games ahead of TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and champions FC Bayern somewhat belies the team’s condition. With Hoffenheim this Sunday and Munich at the beginning of November, the big challenges are yet to come. “If you look at both games or at our games in general, maybe it’s just not enough,” Popp admitted on Wednesday. The defense needs to become more consistent and the offense needs to find its lightness: “That’s what’s missing right now and we have to get it back quickly.”
Another observer would have thought something similar. Interim national coach Horst Hrubesch was sitting in the stadium, who is supposed to save qualification for the 2024 Olympic Games in the absence of the ill Martina Voss-Tecklenburg. With the hoped-for side effect that security and self-confidence will return to the German national team. This is now made more difficult because his squad for the Nations League games on October 27th in Sinsheim against Wales and on October 31st in Iceland includes various players from VfL Wolfsburg who have been out of the World Cup since the historically early exit Australia have not found their best form.
In defense, Voss-Tecklenburg relied on the well-rehearsed VfL block – whether Hrubesch will change anything based on his observations remains to be seen. After all, other national players are also feeling the after-effects of the summer. But one faction received a boost in self-confidence in the Champions League: after their second win against Sparta Prague, Eintracht Frankfurt is back in the top 16 internationally for the first time since 2016 – back then as 1. FFC Frankfurt – thanks to a hat-trick from Austrian Barbara Dunst. The FC Bayern were qualified as champions anyway. How far the journey of the two clubs could go can soon be better assessed: the group phase will be drawn on Friday.