Wolfsburg Reach Women’s Champions League Final In Front Of Record Attendance

Two-time European champions VfL Wolfsburg reached this season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League final after defeating the only English side to win the competition, Arsenal 5-3 on aggregate after a pulsating semi-final played in front of a British record attendance of 60.063 at the Emirates Stadium.

After surrendering a 2-0 lead in the first leg to draw the first leg 2-2, the German, who won the UEFA Women’s Champions League in 2013 and 2014, won the second leg 3-2 after a thrilling end-to-end match to set up a glamorous final against Spanish Champions, FC Barcelona.

After somewhat fortuitously escaping the concession of a penalty for handball due to an offside earlier in the move spotted by the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), Arsenal went in front in the eleventh minute. Swedish striker, Stina Blackstenius capitalized on indecision between Wolfsburg center-back Kathrin Hendrich and goalkeeper Merle Frohms to score. Yet minutes before half-time, former Arsenal player, Jill Roord swept home an equalizing goal from the edge of the area to leave the aggregate score level at half-time.

At the start of the second half, the roles were reversed as VAR this time came to the rescue of Wolfsburg in ruling out a copybook Blackstenius goal. Within minutes, German center forward Alexandra Popp, playing her 94th game in the competition, scored with a trademark near-post header to put Wolfsburg 2-1 in front on the night. However, Arsenal struck back, equalizing with a Jen Beattie header to once more level the tie.

Extra time could have gone either way but with just one minute of normal time remaining, Wolfsburg broke away and substitute Pauline Bremer slid the ball home to put the German side into the final and ensure England will go yet another year without winning the premier club competition in Europe since Arsenal won the UEFA Women’s Cup in 2007.

The match today was the first Arsenal have played at a sold-out Emirates Stadium. The attendance broke the club record of 47,367 which was set earlier in the season during the North London Derby between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur. In total, the club has sold over 240,000 for their eight matches at the main club stadium this season, an average of 30,000 per match.

The crowd figure was remarkably over forty times the attendance when the top teams met in London at the semi-final stage of the UEFA Champions League when just 1,406 saw the game at Borehamwood. It is also more than eleven times the attendance (5,018) for the quarer-final match last season between the two clubs, both indicators of the startling growth of the European women’s game at the top level.

The attendance also broke the 103-year English record for a match between two club sides set when a reported 53,000 witnessed the 1920 match between Dick, Kerr Ladies and St. Helen’s at Goodison Park in Liverpool. Over a century in the making, this mark is likely to stand for only 13 days as over 80,000 tickets have now been allocated for the women’s FA Cup final between Chelsea and Manchester United at Wembley Stadium on May 14.

Arsenal, who lie in fourth place in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League, will not qualify to play in next season’s UEFA Women’s Champions League as things stands. Even if they win all five of their remaining league games, including one away to current English champions Chelsea, they will not be guaranteed a top three qualifying position.

Despite eliminating Barcelona from the 2020 UEFA Champions League, Wolfsburg will go into the final as massive underdogs against FC Barcelona, who have only lost one game this season. A side which was won their last 61 league matches in Spain were further boosted yesterday by the return of their double Ballon D’Or award winner, Alexia Putellas after nine months out with an anterior cruciate ligament injury.