Key events
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
10 min: Wolfburg attack at last but Popp and Jonsdottir fail to link up. Frustrating so far for those in the VW-emblazoned shirts.
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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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.
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
Wolfsburg: Frohms, Wilms, Hendrich, Janssen, Rauch, Oberdorf, Lattwein, Huth, Popp, Jonsdottir, Roord. Subs: Bremer, Pajor, Demann, Wolter, Blomqvist, Wedemeyer, Wasmuth, Brand, Weiss, Hegering, Kiedrzynek.
PSG: Bouhaddi, Lawrence, Jean-Francois, Geyoro, Karchaoui, Fazer, Hamraoui, Baltimore, Martens, Diani, Bachmann. Subs: Albert, Picaud, Thorvaldsdottir, Vangsgaard, Georgieva, Li, Traore, Votikova, Ngueleu, Elimbi.
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.
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.
