Full-time: Wolfsburg 1-1 PSG (2-1 agg)
Two-time champions Wolfsburg progressed to the semi-finals of the Women’s Champions League for the second year in a row after defeating PSG 2-1 on aggregate.
Alexandra Popp’s goal in the 20th minute proved decisive in front of 14,367 fans at the VW Arena despite Kadidiatou Diani’s equalizer 10 minutes later, after the German team won 1-0 at the Parc des Princes last week.
“We are mega happy and mega proud, it was a tough fight,” Popp told DAZN. “We fought our way in, took the duels. The first goal was extremely important for us.”
Unbeaten in eight Champions League matches this season, Wolfsburg will face Arsenal in the last four after the London club beat Bayern Munich 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium to overturn their 1-0 deficit from the first leg. Associated Press
The social media reactions and the goals: all here.
SCHLUSS! HALBFINALE!!! 💚🙌😍#WOBPSG #UWCL #VfLWolfsburg pic.twitter.com/9KALqfXkUd
— VfL Wolfsburg Frauen (@VfL_Frauen) March 30, 2023
⌛️ C'est terminé à Wolfsburg dans ce quart de finale retour.
— PSG Féminines (@PSG_Feminines) March 30, 2023
Les Parisiennes obtiennent un match nul insuffisant pour poursuivre leur route en @UWCL. #WOBPSG 1-1 I #UWCL pic.twitter.com/CwT0vwvwrG
Kadidiatou Diani goes up high to score PSG's first goal of the tie 👀#UWCL LIVE NOW ⬇️
— DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) March 30, 2023
🇬🇧 https://t.co/M1l4RxYTlA
🇫🇷 https://t.co/mUApAVhN1I
🇩🇪 https://t.co/R4FBJZ3iGG pic.twitter.com/adrrznAJ5Y
WHAT A SPECTACULAR GOAL BY ALEXANDRA POPP TO GIVE WOLFSBURG THE LEAD 🔥🔥🔥#UWCL WATCH NOW ⬇️
— DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) March 30, 2023
🇬🇧 https://t.co/M1l4RxYTlA
🇫🇷 https://t.co/mUApAVhN1I
🇩🇪 https://t.co/R4FBJZ3iGG pic.twitter.com/QEALkSPVEQ
For Wolfsburg, the Emirates awaits.
Wolfsburg 1-1 PSG (Wolfsburg win 2-1 on aggregate)
That was a superb tie, end to end, a credit to both teams and the competition. Alex Popp’s strike, against the run of play, means Arsenal will welcome Wolfsburg to the Emirates for the semis. PSG fall short again in the competition that continues to elude them. Now, who can join Barcelona, Arsenal and Wolfsburg? Over to you, Chelsea and Lyon.
Updated
90+3 min: Traore, the ball dropping to the floor, takes a swing at the ball. And misses. Was that PSG’s final chance? As Popp wins a free-kick, the answer is yes. The Germans go through.
90+2 min: Wolfsburg break up play by taking off Jonsdottir and on comes Brands. How much more will that add on? The referee warns Wolfsburg there will be more than three minutes.
90+1 min: Wolfsburg clear, desperate scenes as Fazer and Albert have attempts. This is breathless stuff but Lawrence, in coming off the flank and shooting, allows Wolfsburg to breathe.
90 min: Into the midnight hour, and one goal in it. Three minutes added on, which seems a little short.
Updated
88 min: Oof. The ball is launched to Pajor and out comes Bouhaddi who plays a one-two -off the Wolfsburg forward. Risky business. Then, with Bouhaddi floundering, Geyoro clears up with the ball falling loose. Popp breaks up play with a foul she is lucky not to be booked for.
86 min: More woodwork for Wolfsburg! Jonsdottir shoots when Popp and Pajor were coming in on goal. And yet, the ball comes out again and we still have a very open match on our hands.
85 min: Rauch – with relief – speeds back to smash the ball out of play. Wolfsburg have been so nervous in the last few minutes, at both ends of the field.
84 min: Vansgaard robs Janssen and Karchaoui, sitting off the edge of the area, has all the goal to aim at. And yet she manages to miss the target.
83 min: PSG will need to throw everything at this. Traore gets a bit excited in knocking over the nearest defender in chasing hard.
81 min: PSG haven’t given up. Oh no. They attack in numbers, only for Janssen to intervene. Pajort, keen to make up for being benched, thrashes in a shot. But still no second Wolfsburg goal.
79 min: There’s a mistake, a moment of glory, a moment to come in this game. It’s been that type of occasion, a real credit to this competition.
77 min: More chaos, more woodwork, from a Wolfsburg corner. Huth takes, Oberdorf nods on to the bar. Jonsdottir goes down in the melee. It’s been a ridiculous second half, this.
76 min: PSG miss a golden chance. Traore looked to be through – with a hint of offside – but misses anyway. There have been far more goals in this game than the scoreline might suggest.
74 min: Vansgaard….no. On two counts. 1) she missed. 2) she was offside. She’s working hard up front, and has done a fine job in place of Diani.
73 min: Bachmann is down, perhaps overdriven. Meanwhile, Wolfsburg make a sub, with Roord going off and Pajor, whom it was a surprise to see on the bench. Bachman goes off, just when she looked her team’s main threat. Traore comes on.
71 min: That penalty decision? Correct as it turns out. Li, the sub, made a fine tackle on Jonsdottir.
69 min: Wolfsburg want a penalty! Was Jonsdottir brought down? The referee waves it away, and VAR doesn’t get to decide with there being a lengthy spell of the ball being in play. The German team choose to keep the ball and forget about any injustice.
Updated
68 min: Bachmann recovers her temper to fizz in a corner that Wolfsburg deal with rather unconvincingly. The second corner drops to Vansgaard who gets over the ball but somehow manages to squirt it wide.
67 min: Oberdoorf is yellow-carded for a hefty challenge on Karchaoui. Then comes cross words between Bachmann, of PSG, and Huth of Wolfsburg.
65 min: Tommy Stroot, the Wolfsburg coach, looks like he can’t believe his team are not out of sight.
63 min: PSG have made a change with Sandi Baltimore departing midfield for Korbin Albert. They need midfield control, it’s been a real problem for them this half.
61 min: Popp then has another header cleared off the line. All Wolfsburg.
60 min: Wolfsburg really trying to drive this one home. And this time, they hit the bar. Rauch knocks in a corner and Popp’s header comes back out. PSG have been holding on here.
58 min: Popp’s head is not going down just yet, and it’s her persistence that forces a chance for Huth. It’s a fine save from Bouhaddi, who is becoming ever busier.
56 min: Popp’s radar is fading. She has a free-kick chance but can only smash this one into the backboards behind the goal.
54 min: It’s all Wolfsburg at the moment, they fancy their chances, and PSG are struggling to hold the ball in the fashion they did with Diani.
Updated
53 min: My word! What a miss! The ball drops to Popp, of all people, and she manages to drill the ball off the post. It was an open goal. Himmel!
50 min: PSG free-kick in a dangerous position but Bachmann’s ball is poor and is way beyond any of her teammates.
48 min: PSG are still chasing hard. Vansgaard has gone up front to where Diani once was, as Fazer sets up Hamraoui, stepping forward, to fizz in a shot that Frohms saves.
46 min: We are back underway. A sub, with Diani off, and Vansgaard comes on. Popp, from the kickoff, tries to shoot on goal but Bouhaddi had read it, and claimed with ease.
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Half-time: Wolfsburg 1-1 PSG (2-1 agg)
PSG have dominated possession but feel prey to the quality of Alex Popp’s finishing. Kadidiatou Diani’s goal put them back in the game but her loss with a shoulder injury leaves the French club, already riven with problems, perhaps short on the quality to mount a comeback. Diani left the field wrapped up in a highly elaborate bandage.
Updated
45+2 min: Looks like Diani is done. She’s in real pain, a shame. She leaves the field and there are tears, too.
45 min: Three minutes added on of a breathless half. Still time for Bachmann to cause all sorts of trouble with a run to the byline and Wolfsburg are forced to defend deep again.
44 min: Popp drops back in midfield and suddenly Fazer is on her tail. Good news for PSG is that Diani is back on, and will give it a go with that injury.
43 min: A lengthy delay, and it looks like Diani has a shoulder – or collarbone – problem. There’s obvious pain in her face. Will PSG play out the half with 10 and see if the running repairs can have an effect?
41 min: Diani is down, after a hefty challenge from Hendrich. PSG are already without a few stars, and Diani would be a huge loss. It looks like a heavy fall.
Updated
39 min: A PSG corner, and they smell blood. It’s Popp who goes back to use her aerial prowess to clear the danger.
37 min: Karchaoui speed down the flank and tries to find Diani again. The ball comes loose and Bachmann, out on the left, whips in a shot with her right foot. Chances aplenty at both ends.
34 min: It’s become an even contest, full of intrigue, on a knife-edge, just like last night at the Emirates, and as we expect later in Chelsea’s game.
32 min: The Wolfsburg defence breached at last, and suddenly this match and tie feel like they could go in any direction.
Goal! Wolfsburg 1-1 PSG (Diani, 30) (2-1 on aggregate)
Game on, and a lovely ball from Karchaoui is nodded in by the PSG predator. Just like Wolfsburg’s it came rather against expectation.
Updated
29 min: Popp goes close to another. Bouhaddi gets down low to save a diving header and then has to smother the rebound. Popp had been left alone by PSG’s makeshift defence.
27 min: PSG, to their credit, have kept up the pace of before. They also know now, and to their cost, that leaving the backdoor open is a mistake….
25 min: Joe Pearson gets in touch: “I know I’m just a stupid American, but when someone gets that far clear of the last line, my automatic expectation is that they were offside. And as a Liverpool fan, I’m glad I’m right more often than not.
“Oh, and finding this match was an adventure. Streaming on YouTube as part of DAZN, my first try came through in German. Five years of the language over forty years ago was just not good enough.”
Same, and I chose to study Latin over German at my provincial grammar school in a humdrum town. A mistake, on reflection. The reason was I didn’t like the teacher.
23 min: PSG have a long road back into the tie, and suddenly all that momentum counts for very little indeed.
21 min: Somehow, Wolfsburg have one foot in the semis and their fingers over booking a trip to London and the Emirates.
Goal! Wolfsburg 1-0 PSG (2-0 on aggregate) Popp, 20
The goal lives up the name. Wolfsburg spring into action, and from the edge of the area, the legendary forward swipes in a goal as against the run of play as you can possibly imagine.
Updated
18 min: Bachmann steals the ball down the flank and forces a corner. But then, PSG almost get caught out at the back.
16 min: Wolfsburg try to weather the storm, and are sat back in formation. A look at that offside suggests there was inches in it.
14 min: PSG press on. Can Bachmann turn up their overdrive? Her corner is clear but Wolfsburg, having got lucky with that offside, are all over the place.
Disallowed PSG goal! (11)
Lawrence’s ball is a beauty, Diani reads it, takes her time and slots….hang on, here’s VAR. She was just offside.
Updated
10 min: Wolfburg attack at last but Popp and Jonsdottir fail to link up. Frustrating so far for those in the VW-emblazoned shirts.
Updated
9 min: Diani fizzes a shot over. It’s all PSG, Wolfsburg haven’t been out of the opposite half.
8 min: PSG on the attack once more, with Hendrich asked to make a clearance. The French club dominant here, and playing some neat football.
6 min: Martens’ knockdown really should have been met by a better finish from Fazer. Wolfsburg a bit sluggish so far; still wiping away the cobwebs of losing to Bayern at the weekend?
5 min: Opportunist shot by Karchaoui, seizing on a loose ball.
4 min: Jill Roord on the charge, in typical style, but Fazer, the youngster, brings the ball out before a foul by Alex Popp.
3 min: Jonsdottir turns in midfield, only to be robbed in possession. Still, PSG fail to make much of it.
1 min: Away we go, with Wolfsburg immediately sitting back. They’re asked to do some early defending and clear the danger.
The scene is set in Wolfsburg as the teams make their way to the field before the anthems. The German team’s shirts are bright to the point of requiring shades.
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Updated
Arsenal lie in wait in the semi-finals.
And Chelsea will later try and get past Lyon to join the last four and face 2021 nemesis Barcelona.
Updated
A huge week in the Women’s Champions League, as celebrated in today’s Football Daily.
Big news for Wolfsburg: Ewa Pajor is on the bench, with Sveindís Jónsdóttir replacing her in the starting XI and and Jill Roord leading the Wolfsburg attack. That’s the tournament’s leading scorer sitting much of this match out.
The teams are in
Unsere Startelf für das Viertelfinal-Rückspiel in der @UWCL! 👊#WOBPSG #UWCL #VfLWolfsburg pic.twitter.com/Et28tlDMIJ
— VfL Wolfsburg Frauen (@VfL_Frauen) March 30, 2023
Wolfsburg: Frohms, Wilms, Hendrich, Janssen, Rauch, Oberdorf, Lattwein, Huth, Popp, Jonsdottir, Roord. Subs: Bremer, Pajor, Demann, Wolter, Blomqvist, Wedemeyer, Wasmuth, Brand, Weiss, Hegering, Kiedrzynek.
📄🆗 Le onze de départ pour ce quart de finale retour d'@UWCL ! 🔴🔵#WOBPSG I #UWCL pic.twitter.com/q2LriljHi5
— PSG Féminines (@PSG_Feminines) March 30, 2023
PSG: Bouhaddi, Lawrence, Jean-Francois, Geyoro, Karchaoui, Fazer, Hamraoui, Baltimore, Martens, Diani, Bachmann. Subs: Albert, Picaud, Thorvaldsdottir, Vangsgaard, Georgieva, Li, Traore, Votikova, Ngueleu, Elimbi.
Updated
Here’s what happened in the first leg, as per Rob Smyth.
A forgettable game will be remembered for two penalties at the start of the second half. PSG’s was given and then overturned by VAR; Wolfsburg was awarded after an intervention from VAR and also led to a second yellow card for the PSG centre-back Elisa De Almeida.
Dominique Janssen scored the penalty with aplomb, and Wolfsburg held on comfortably to take a precious lead back to Germany for next week’s second leg.
WOLFSBURG STRIKE FIRST OFF DOMINIQUE JANSSEN'S PENALTY 💚#UWCL LIVE NOW ⬇️
— DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) March 22, 2023
🇬🇧 https://t.co/TIuLUXFmxl
🇩🇪 https://t.co/rzhvMXXYLH
🇫🇷 https://t.co/wsiihZf1A5 pic.twitter.com/wWxSN1RLtT
Preamble
The semi-finals are familiar territory for both these teams, with Wolfsburg hoping to reach them for a second successive season, and PSG for a fourth successive season. The German club, winners of this competition in 2013 and 2014, lead 1-0 from last week in Paris, thanks to Dominique Janssen’s penalty. Both teams are involved in tight title races, Wolfsburg a point behind Bayern, to whom they lost at the weekend while PSG are behind Lyon, the defending Women’s Champions League champions. Feels like the English, German and French leagues are keener competitions than the Spanish league where Barcelona reign supreme. This one threatens to be a tight match, too, but PSG have tough opposition to overcome if they want to return to the semis in search of a first European title.
Kick-off is 5.45 UK time. Join me.
