Here is the match report.
Right then. BT Sport are now showing me squash, which is probably my cue to step away. The “return” match is next Wednesday at 1pm GMT, again in Budapest. Mark your diaries!
Well that was rather good, was it not? There was brilliant goalkeeping, awful goalkeeping, great finishing, terrible finishing, and generally all kinds of everything, and for all but 10 second-half minutes when both teams made lots of changes and briefly lost their way, it was entertaining throughout. As I type BT Sport are showing me Berger’s save from Rolfo, which was absolutely fabulous, possibly the moment of the match.
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Final score: Chelsea 2-1 Wolfsburg
90+9 mins: It’s all over! Chelsea have beaten Wolfsburg for the first time ever, and have a precious lead to take into the “away” leg!
90+8 mins: There was a booking while those players were down, but it was for the Chelsea coach, Emma Hayes.
90+8 mins: Both players are back on their feet, though neither looks very comfortable. There should be another 30 seconds or so to play, which will start with a Chelsea free-kick in their own penalty area.
90+5 mins: Wolfsburg fling the ball into the box. Berger comes out to claim and is clattered by Popp, and both players go to ground. Chelsea think Popp should get a second booking, but the referee doesn’t seem to agree.
90+5 mins: Wolfsburg have spent stoppage time ripping into Chelsea like a pack of wolves with a string of sausages.
90+4 mins: Save! A long ball forward is flicked on by Popp and runs to Blomqvist, whose left-footed shot is too close to Berger.
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90+3 mins: This one goes straight to Berger, who chooses to punch rather than catch but gets good distance on it.
90+2 mins: There will be five minutes of second-half stoppages. Wolfsburg have a right-wing corner, and though it’s cleared they come back again and win another one, from the other flank.
90+1 mins: Leupolz is booked for a foul on Oberdorf in midfield.
89 mins: Berger, who has only just got to her feet after getting some physio treatment, comes out to punch a cross clear and seems in real pain after doing so. I’d guess a left elbow/shoulder issue, based on her reaction, though she used her right arm for the punch.
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86 mins: Chance for Chelsea! Cuthbert and Kerr gang up on Hendrich and steal the ball from her, Kerr slides it to Reiten, about 15 yards from goal and bang central, but she scuffs her shot, which rolls limply back to the keeper.
84 mins: Reiten’s ball floated into the box is delicious, but though several players throw themselves at it nobody can get a bite.
83 mins: Oberdorf becomes the third Wolfsburg player to be booked, for tripping Harder.
80 mins: Guro Reiten has now come on for Kirby.
79 mins: When I wrote, just a few minutes ago, that absolutely anything could happen, it almost exactly coincided with the end of the period when absolutely anything could happen, and the start of the period when lots of substitutions were made, and even more misplaced passes.
76 mins: More substitutional action, Zsanett Jakabfi coming on for Pajor. This is no cause for Chelsea to relax: Jakabfi has scored 10 goals in 14 games this season.
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73 mins: This is the wild west now, and absolutely anything could happen. What happens first, though, is Erin Cuthbert coming on for Ji.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-1 Wolfsburg (Janssen, 70 mins)
That is a phenomenal penalty. I’m not sure Dominique Janseen needed to put it quite so close to the woodwork, but it misses both post and bar by a few inches and nestles in the top corner!
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69 mins: Penalty to Wolfsburg! The ball is played in from the right and Eriksson throws herself at it, but Huth gets there first before going over her leg!
69 mins: Wolfsburg have brought Blomqvist on for Rolfo.
GOAL! Chelsea 2-0 Wolfsburg (Harder, 66 mins)
Wolfsburg self-destruct! Kiedrzynek’s short goal-kick is aimed at Hendrich on the right but is intercepted by Kirby, who passes infield to Kerr, who passes to Harder to her right, who slides it into the net!
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65 mins: Some excellent play from Chelsea here, but the move ends with Kirby’s cross from the left going just over Kerr’s head.
63 mins: Impossible save! Popp crosses from the right, Rolfo volleys goalwards, and a goal looks certain before Berger somehow tips it over the bar!
61 mins: They convince Chelsea a cross is incoming but pass across the edge of the box to Popp, in all sorts of space, whose first-time shot floats over the bar!
60 mins: Pajor dribbles to the edge of the Chelsea area, cuts onto her left foot, and takes a shot which is excellently blocked by Andersson. Moments later Charles tackles Rauch on the Chelsea right, an excellent challenge that the referee for some reason decides was a foul, and Wolfsburg will put the ball into the box again.
58 mins: Chance for a second! It’s a lovely ball infield to Andersson from Kerr on the left, and the left-back cuts inside but for some reason doesn’t shoot, takes an unnecessary extra touch and loses possession.
56 mins: Another Chelsea attack, but Kerr fouled a defender in knocking the ball down towards Harder.
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GOAL! Chelsea 1-0 Wolfsburg (Kerr, 54 mins)
Incredible scenes! Chelsea have only gone and stuck the ball in the onion bag! It’s a lovely first-time through-ball on the turn from Kirby, Kiedrzynek comes out too slowly to intercept it but too quickly not to be completely stranded when Kerr takes a touch. It’s still a tough finish, on the turn and from a tight angle, but the Australian sends it into the roof of the net!
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53 mins: Pajor blasts a shot well wide of the near post, from out to the right of goal. Chelsea have every chance to win this now, I think, so long as the invisible magic forcefield protecting their own goal holds up.
49 mins: Wolfsburg hit the post again! Huth runs down the right and crosses, and Rolfo heads into the near post! The ball then rebounds into Pajor - an inch or two the other way and it would have deflected into the net, but on this occasion it comes off the side of her leg and rolls away from goal!
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48 mins: Chelsea have started this half on the front foot, but twice have been let down by poor final passes.
46 mins: Peeeeeep! Wolfsburg get the second half started with a big lump down the left (and I don’t mean Lena Oberdorf).
Chelsea have now joined the Germans on the pitch, so brace yourselves.
The players are back out, or Wolfsburg’s at least, so more football is imminent.
Half time: Chelsea 0-0 Wolfsburg
45 mins: The referee plays just four seconds of stoppage time, not unreasonably as there hasn’t been many stoppages, or even slowings-down, and Chelsea have somehow reached the break without conceding.
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41 mins: The ball can’t have spent long in midfield, because it seems like one team or the other, and normally one, is perpetually assaulting a penalty area. The game has no right to be goalless.
39 mins: Berger in action again! Bright tries to head back to her keeper but Rolfo anticipates it and gets there first, but by the time she does Berger is right in front of her, and can hardly fail to block the ensuing shot.
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36 mins: And another good Chelsea attack. Kirby passes to Kerr, but her run into the left side of the area is halted by a marginal but correct offside decision.
34 mins: Kirby passes infield to Harder, just inside Wolfsburg’s penalty area, and a decent return pass would have set her up for a shot. It didn’t come.
32 mins: Wolfsburg keep knocking on Chelsea’s door. It’s yet another cross from the right, which Rolfo doesn’t seem to catch cleanly and her header bounces narrowly wide.
“The clash of onomatopoeia rivals that of a fight scene in Batman and Robin!” suggests Peter Oh. “Zap! Pow! Thwapp! Bam! Bif! Bright! Ji! Kerr! Popp! Rauch! Huth!”
30 mins: Chelsea have a chance! Kirby is played through to the right of goal, and she runs into the area before either having a very poor, weak shot or squaring to nobody, it’s hard to tell.
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28 mins: Rauch has the worst shot of the game, and possibly the season, skewed so badly off the outside of her boot that by the time it lands it’s only just inside Chelsea’s penalty area.
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24 mins: So the bad news for Chelsea is that we are one quarter of the way through the game, an eighth of the way through the tie, and Wolfsburg have already hit the post, had a goal disallowed, had a shot cleared off the line and forced the keeper into a miracle double save. The good news for Chelsea is Wolfsburg have already hit the post, had a goal disallowed, had a shot cleared off the line and forced the keeper into a miracle double save, and they still haven’t scored.
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21 mins: Double save! And a clearance off the line! This time they attack from the left, Rolfo benefits from a lucky ricochet off Bright and runs into the box, and her first shot is stopped by Berger, her second shot is stopped by Berger, and finally Pajor’s overhead is headed off the line by Andersson!
18 mins: Another Wolfsburg player goes in the book, Doorsoun being cautioned for a foul on Leupolz.
16 mins: Now they have a goal disallowed! It’s, yes, a cross from the right, and it comes off Popp’s hand and into the net! I think she probably expected Pajor to get her head to it, so wasn’t prepared for the ball to come through to her, but it was certainly a handball. She argues furiously with the referee as she’s booked for it, and with some reason - it looked entirely accidental, but having said that she didn’t immediately admit that it had happened.
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14 mins: Wolfsburg hit the post! They attack down the right again, Pajor crosses, and Popp gets to it at the near post and turns the ball past Berger, but into the woodwork and it bounces out to safety!
12 mins: Chance for Chelsea! Doorsoun-Khajeh’s backpass is weak and Harder gets to it just before the onrushing keeper, but she tries to lift it into the net and it clips Kiedrzynek’s legs!
11 mins: Kerr finds Kirby in the area, and she turns nicely past her marker, but Oberdorf has got back well, and seems to be very broad and strong, and once she gets between Kirby and the ball there’s no way past her.
8 mins: And another Wolfsburg cross from the right, but Huth’s centre goes straight to Berger. All their attacking is coming down that flank at the moment.
7 mins: They have now, but Millie Bright’s long ball bounced all the way through to Kiedrzynek.
6 mins: Another cross from the right, and this time Popp flicks it on, but straight to Berger. Chelsea haven’t got the ball into, or really even near, the Wolfsburg box yet.
3 mins: An early chance for Wolfsburg, who send in a lovely cross from the right which dips onto the head of Rolfo, but she doesn’t get enough power on her header to worry Berger.
1 min: Peeeeeep! Chelsea get the game started!
The teams are on their way out! The referees are in shocking pick tops and socks, Wolfsburg in luminous green shirts and shorts, and Chelsea looking disappointingly sober in their completely unshocking and by no means luminous blue.
This is what the Szusza Ferenc Stadium looks like today. A bit grey overhead, but plenty of room in the car park.
The teams!
The team news is out, and here it all is:
Chelsea: Berger; Charles, Bright, Eriksson, Andersson; Leupolz, Ingle, Ji; Kirby, Harder, Kerr. Subs: Musovic, Telford, Blundell, Carter, Reiten, Fleming, Cuthbert, Spence, Fox, Beever-Jones.
Wolfsburg: Kiedrzynek; Hendrich, Doorsoun-Khajeh, Janssen, Rauch; Syrated Engen, popp, Oberdorf; Huth, Pajor, Rolfo. Subs: Schult, Abt, Jakabfi, Blasse, Blomqvist, Saevik, Svava, Wolter, Dickenmann, Van de Sanden, Wedemeyer, Goessling.
Referee: Jana Adamkova (Czech Republic).
Today's team to take on Wolfsburg! 👊#CFCW #UWCL pic.twitter.com/lAfyCyf08S
— Chelsea FC Women (@ChelseaFCW) March 24, 2021
Ewa Pajor ist zurück in der ersten Elf! So starten die Wölfinnen gegen @ChelseaFCW! 🙏💚
— VfL Wolfsburg Frauen (@VfL_Frauen) March 24, 2021
📺➡ https://t.co/C5VjBY68ey#CFCWOB #UWCL #VfLWolfsburg pic.twitter.com/eS8taT2Vfo
Hello world!
It is seven years since Wolfsburg won the second of back-to-back Champions League titles. Superficially this would appear to be a sign of decline, but they have reached a couple of finals since then and in the last five years have been knocked out of the competition by Lyon, Lyon, Lyon, Lyon and also Lyon, with the French side going on to lift the trophy on every occasion.
What’s more, they have only lost one game since last season’s Champions League final, and that was in November. And if Lyon are Wolfsburg’s nemesis, they themselves are Chelsea’s: in 2017, 2018 and 2019 it was the Germans who dumped the Blues out of Europe. But there is only one way to win the Champions League, and that is by at some point going through Wolfsburg and Lyon, and rather than being fearful Emma Hayes says as she approaches this game she is “extremely curious to see how far we’ve progressed” since the teams last meeting.
And aren’t we all, Emma, aren’t we all. Here’s our match preview, and welcome!
