It was thrilling, it was dramatic, it was tense. Ultimately, the players of VfL Wolfsburg’s women’s team have set up the best possible finale to their season. Ralf Kellerman’s team are through to the semi-finals of the Champions League after drawing 3-3 away to FC Rosengard and 1-1 in the first leg. They will meet Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals in April.
It was German international Alexandra Popp who came up with the decisive moments against the Swedish champions. The 23 year old score two important goals to put Wolfsburg 1-0 and 3-2 up during the game. “It was a very even game once again”, said Popp in an interview with DFB.de. “Now we can still dream of a treble
DFB.de: Miss Popp, congratulations on advancing to the semi-finals of the Champions League. How was the second leg tie in Rosengard for you?
Popp: It was a very even game once again. Throughout the 90 minutes it was very much back and forth. At times we were heading to the semis, at others it was Rosengard. Fortunately we finished off on top.
DFB.de: Did you ever have any doubts during the game, for example at half time when you were 2-1 down?
Popp: No absolutely not. I always had the feeling we would pull through. I can’t say exactly why that was but I never had any doubts.
DFB.de: What made the difference?
Popp: We noticed during the first leg that we were more physical than them. Midway through the second half they weren’t able to challenge us much, especially going forward they had little to offer. We knew we had to take advantage of this and it worked very well for us.
It was thrilling, it was dramatic, it was tense. Ultimately, the players of VfL Wolfsburg’s women’s team have set up the best possible finale to their season. Ralf Kellerman’s team are through to the semi-finals of the Champions League after drawing 3-3 away to FC Rosengard and 1-1 in the first leg. They will meet Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals in April.
It was German international Alexandra Popp who came up with the decisive moments against the Swedish champions. The 23 year old score two important goals to put Wolfsburg 1-0 and 3-2 up during the game. “It was a very even game once again”, said Popp in an interview with DFB.de. “Now we can still dream of a treble
DFB.de: Miss Popp, congratulations on advancing to the semi-finals of the Champions League. How was the second leg tie in Rosengard for you?
Popp: It was a very even game once again. Throughout the 90 minutes it was very much back and forth. At times we were heading to the semis, at others it was Rosengard. Fortunately we finished off on top.
DFB.de: Did you ever have any doubts during the game, for example at half time when you were 2-1 down?
Popp: No absolutely not. I always had the feeling we would pull through. I can’t say exactly why that was but I never had any doubts.
DFB.de: What made the difference?
Popp: We noticed during the first leg that we were more physical than them. Midway through the second half they weren’t able to challenge us much, especially going forward they had little to offer. We knew we had to take advantage of this and it worked very well for us.
DFB.de: Everything started off so well…
Popp: ... Yes, we took the lead early on, but yet again we failed to score a second goal quickly. Instead, we made lots of mistakes which led to Marta’s equaliser. Then Rosengard took the lead shortly before the break through Anja Mittag. It’s no secret that they have great potential in attack.
DFB.de: After the break you were the much better side right?
Popp: Yes, we promised ourselves at half time that we would make it to the semi-final. We thrive on our team spirit; it’s been a really important factor of our success over the past two years. We also wanted to do it for our injured team mates, as well as Caroline Hansen who was sent off in the first leg.
DFB.de: You scored two goals. A special day for you?
Popp: Of course it pleases me when I can help the team with goals. They were two typical Popp goals. It’s not important who scores though. The only important thing is that we are successful as a team.
DFB.de: You will play Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-final. What are your expectations?
Popp: We played against them in pre-season so we know a little of what to expect. There are five German players in their team: Lira Alushi, Annike Krahn, Josephine Henningm Linda Bresonik and Ann-Katrin Berger. One thing is certain: it’s another difficult fixture for us. We are looking forward to the challenge, but now our focus turns towards the DFB cup semi-final on Wednesday against SC Freiburg. We’re taking each game as it comes and there is no time to rest.
DFB.de: So the dream of the treble lives on?
Popp: Yes it lives on. We still have every chance of winning every competition. We’re trying not to look too far ahead, however. There’s no point of getting ahead of ourselves, our schedule is too busy for that anyway. We only think about the next game. We’re desperate to make it to the final in Köln though. If we do that we’ll have already achieved an immediate objective. Everything else will come afterwards and in the summer there is also the World Cup in Canada. It definitely won’t be boring.
