VFL Wolfsburg. Photo by Asif Burhan.
“We love this pitch” exclaimed a member of the VfL Wolfsburg coaching staff at the final whistle as the team that won their first UEFA Women’s Champions League title at Stamford Bridge returned on Wednesday night to win again in the Round of 32 first leg.
For Chelsea Ladies it was an evening of disappointment and frustration as they seem set to go out to the Germans for the second successive season. “We had a game plan to try and keep a clean sheet and we didn’t execute that game plan” admitted Eni Aluko after the match “we can’t concede goals like that, it’s a bitterly disappointing night, we have to take responsibility for that. Have we learnt from last year? No, because we didn’t get the result we wanted”.
Wolfsburg were on the front foot from the start, first to every ball and hemming Chelsea in their own half. In the 12th minute, Claire Rafferty let a long ball bounce outside her own area and Zsannett Jakabfi pounced to lob it over the advancing Hedvig Lindahl.
Chelsea failed to respond to falling behind and the pattern of the game continued. It was no surprise when Wolfsburg extended their lead before half-time as Lara Dickenmann went down the left and crossed to the back post where Jakabfi’s header squirmed through Lindahl and over the line.
Ji Yo-Sun and Gemma Davison, both earmarked by the Wolfsburg players beforehand as threats and surprisingly left out by Emma Hayes, were brought on either side of half time but Wolfsburg scored what will surely prove a killer third in the 53rd minute. The excellent Caroline Hansen raced away down the left, cut inside Gilly Flaherty and instead of shooting selflessly laid the ball across for Jakabfi to complete her hat-trick.
A disappointed Chelsea coach Emma Hayes admitted afterwards “the tie is as good as over”. Nevertheless, Wolfsburg coach Ralf Kellermann insisted he would not be resting players in the second leg “don’t forget we are not through yet, we’re going to be very concentrated in the way we go into the second leg”.
Fran Kirby returning from injury was not used from the bench “hopefully I can get on the pitch next week (in the second leg). We’ll make sure we analyse the game, go back next week and hopefully put in a better performance”. She drew some consolation from playing in front of a crowd of 3,783 – “we know what a fantastic opportunity it was to play at Stamford Bridge. For us it was really nice to see, especially all the younger girls coming out. We want them to look up to us, we want to try and inspire as many young girls as we can, the fans coming out show what a great fan base we have, we really appreciate it.”
International Women's Soccer
