More than 90,000 spectators at Camp Nou watched a game in which the hosts were superior in every respect. Especially in the defensive of the Wolfsburg women revealed large gaps.
Never before have there been so many spectators at Barcelona’s Camp Nou in a Champions League game: 91,648 people watched the first leg of the semi-finals between the soccer players of FC Barcelona and VfL Wolfsburg. The German team was inferior in all respects – and lost the game 1:5. With a deficit of that magnitude, coach Tommy Stroot’s side are unlikely to have a chance of reaching the final in the second leg on 30 April.
Aitana Bonmati (3rd minute), Caroline Hansen (10th), Jennifer Hermoso (33rd) and world footballer Alexia Putellas (38th/84th, penalty kick) scored for the Barça team. On her 25th birthday, Jill Roord reduced the lead to 1:4 (70th) for VfL. The Spanish champions also won their 40th competitive game this season and showed a brilliant performance in terms of play and tactics. The dream of a treble has almost burst for the defensively weak Wolfsburg women, who are on course for the title in the Bundesliga and are in the DFB Cup final. In 2013 and 2014, VfL triumphed in the Champions League. FC Barcelona can probably already book the flight to the final on May 21 in Turin against the winners of the duel Olympique Lyon against Paris Saint-Germain.
The Barça women quickly tore large gaps in the VfL defense. Bonmati eluded her guards after a free kick and shot goalkeeper Almuth Schult through the legs to make it 1-0. Crnogorcevic from Switzerland also used her free space shortly afterwards to score another goal. Schult then drummed up her teammates for a short speech. Captain Alexandra Popp replaced the injured Lena Oberdorf in the guests’ starting XI. Wolfsburg’s chances through Svenja Huth were initially thwarted by goalkeeper Sandra Paños (14’/57′). National striker Tabea Waßmuth, to date the top scorer in the competition with nine goals, hardly got a ball.
The 300 fans from Wolfsburg who had traveled with them also saw after the break how Barcelona caused many problems for VfL with changes of position and precise passes. Schult prevented further hits from the far superior opponent before Roord’s goal counted to make it 1:4 according to video evidence.