Australian stars Steph Catley and Caitlin Foord have been dumped out of the Champions League, as VfL Wolfsburg beat Arsenal 3-2 with a winner deep in extra time of the second leg of their semifinal.
Wolfsburg will play the final against Barcelona, who knocked out the other great Aussie hope when they ended the run of Sam Kerr's Chelsea in last week's other semi.
Wolfsburg beat the Gunners with a 119th-minute winner from Pauline Bremer at Emirates Stadium to win 5-4 on aggregate.
Two-time champions Wolfsburg will meet the 2021 winners in the final in Eindhoven on June 3 after the Spanish champions reached the showpiece match for a third-straight year.
With nothing to separate the two sides deep in extra time, the German team silenced the home crowd in the 119th minute when their pressure yielded an error.
Jule Brand pinched the ball from a tired Arsenal defence and laid it on a plate for Bremer to tap in from close range as Wolfsburg booked a spot in their sixth European final.
"I feel empty at the moment. It was a very tough game and it's tough to concede a goal like that, but I'm so proud of how the team has done in the Champions League," Arsenal's Stina Blackstenius told DAZN.
"We've come back in so many games and gone so close to the final. I'm so proud but it's so tough to take."
An Arsenal side depleted by injuries to Foord and English stars Leah Williamson and Beth Mead fought back from 2-0 down to level the tie in the first leg in Wolfsburg and, roared on by a crowd of 60,063, the home side took the lead in the 11th minute through Blackstenius.
But Wolfsburg levelled from a free kick when skipper Alexandra Popp, returning from injury, headed the ball into the path of Jill Roord, and goalkeeper Manuela Zinsberger saw the shot from the former Arsenal midfielder too late to make a save.
Blackstenius scored again barely two minutes into the second half but VAR came to Wolfsburg's rescue to rule the goal out for offside and 10 minutes later the German side scored from a corner when Popp nodded in a header at the near post.
Arsenal levelled the tie again when Lotte Wubben-Moy retrieved a Wolfsburg clearance and crossed into the box for fellow defender Jen Beattie to direct a header past the keeper to force extra time, where Wolfsburg's stamina shone through.
"I'm overwhelmed," Roord said.
"It was a tough game with extra time. I thought it was going to go to penalties but we won.
"Credit to Arsenal, they've been through a lot as a team but they made it super hard. At the end, they could have won, we could have won. We were the lucky ones … I'm looking forward to playing in the final in my own country."
Barcelona, who won the league this season with a perfect record, also reached the European final last year where they lost to Olympique Lyonnais.
Come June 3, Wolfsburg or Barcelona will have played in seven of the past eight Women's Champions League deciders, with Barca's 2021 victory over Chelsea the only time Lyon has not won the tournament since 2015.
Wolfsburg won two straight Champions League crowns in 2013 and 2014 and lost finals to Lyon in 2016, 2018 and 2020.
Reuters/ABC
