Matchwinner Jakabfi: "Chelsea are no pushovers"

It was a perfect start for VfL Wolfsburg’s ladies in their Champions League campaign. Ralf Kellermann’s side won their round of 32 first leg match 3-0 away at English champions Chelsea. Hungary international Zsanett Jakabfi was the hero, scoring all three. In an interview with DFB.de, the 26-year-old forward spoke about her goals and the strength of the team’s performance against Chelsea. But the Hungarian was also looking ahead and told us why she would like to go back to Cologne once again this year.

DFB.de: Ms. Jakabfi, was that a perfect evening for you?

Zsanett Jakabfi: Obviously it couldn’t have gone much better form e on a personal level. Scoring three goals against such a fantastic opponent isn’t something you get to do every day. But the most important thing for me personally is that we have put ourselves in a very strong position for the second leg. Now we can return to Wolfsburg in good spirits, and this win was important for our self-confidence.

DFB.de: Did you expect Chelsea to be a tougher challenge?

Jakabfi: 3-0 is a pretty clear result, but it wasn’t an easy game. Chelsea gave us a good test, and we just rose to it very well. We didn’t give them any opportunities at the back and took our chances pretty well at the other end. Also, going in front so early on really helped us on our way.

DFB.de: Does it mean that the tie is already sewn up before the second leg next week?

Jakabfi: We definitely can’t afford to take that attitude into the game, or we’ll have a lot of problems. We have to be just as focused as we were for the away leg, and then I’m sure that we’ll make it through to the next round. If we don’t give 100 percent though, things can start to go pear-shaped very quickly, and we have to make sure we avoid that. We’ve taken the first step, and now we’ve got to take the second step next week. The job is far from finished.

DFB.de: When did you realise that it was going to be a good evening?

Jakabfi: I honestly didn’t really think about it at all during the match. I was too focused. Getting the early goal to go 1-0 up was perfect. Chelsea had to work a lot harder and we could hang back a bit. We did that very well in general. Chelsea are no pushovers. They are definitely one of the strongest opponents that we could have drawn in the first round. But we would rather travel to London than to Kazakhstan as it’s less travel strain. It really felt like a Champions League fixture at Stamford Bridge.

DFB.de: Everything has been going well for you as of late. You scored the opener last weekend for VfL Wolfsburg in your 2-0 victory over MSV Duisburg.

Jakabfi: I’m pleased about every goal I score to help the team. Overall everything has been going pretty well. However we have worked hard to do this. We have to carry on like this, we can’t sit back after these achievements. That would be the biggest mistake we could make. It’s one game after the other. The next few weeks are very important and we have to stay fully focused.

DFB.de: On Saturday you play 1. FFC Fortuna Dresden in the second round of the DFB Cup. Is this match against the third division side just a compulsory task for you?

Jakabfi: We have to start concentrating on this match immediately. We have to give it our all. We are the defending champions of the DFB Cup so we know how important this match is. The final in Cologne is always a highlight of the football season and we want to get ourselves there again. We want and we have to win the match in Dresden. That should be our goal.