Champions League – footballers from Munich and Wolfsburg are fighting against the big ones

The time of Carolin Simon at Olympique Lyon is a bit ago. In the 2018/19 season, the left -back played at the French top team, which FC Bayern meets this Tuesday in the quarter -finals of the Champions League. “Basically, this is still a world-class team with incredibly good single players,” the 32-year-old praises the record winner of the only European Cup competition for women to date.

With goalkeeper Laura Benkarth and international Sara Däbritz and still Dzsenifer Marozsan, three Germans are under contract in Lyon, but Simon did not check more than social media accounts by the former teammates. She is looking forward to the game “Mega” because she had already played together with Benkarth in Freiburg and Däbritz in Munich.

Despite many big names in the big opponent, Simon is confident that FC Bayern can also win the Champions League. “This is our dream. We definitely dare to do this, but then many factors have to come together. ”Just just have set a statement with the 3: 1 in the top game against VfL Wolfsburg. The recently outstanding goalkeeper Pernille Harder spoke of a “good feeling in the team”.

How the international competitiveness of the women’s Bundesliga is on Wednesday will also be shown when the cup winners from Wolfsburg meet the defending champion FC Barcelona. “We know that this is a mammoth task,” said VfL coach Tommy Stroot. As the last German club, Wolfsburg was in the final in 2023 to bring FC Barcelona’s starring ensemble to the edge of a defeat in Eindhoven. In the end, however, the favorites won 3: 2 after a 0-2 deficit.

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“We still have an invoice,” says sports director Ralf Kellermann, knowing that the opponent has become even stronger compared to that time, while his VfL has lost several top performers since then. Former Wolfsburg goalkeeper Ewa Pajor is one of the many top players in a world selection in Barcelona, ​​which is hardly competitive in Spain. The footballers at Barça alone generate almost 18 million euros in sales. For comparison: all twelve Bundesliga clubs come to almost 25 million euros. This is also why the 1st FFC Frankfurt is the last German winner to date with its 2015 final victory in Berlin.

The women of FC Barcelona also hold the record record: In April 2022, 91,648 spectators came to the semi-final first leg against Wolfsburg to cheer a 5-1 shooter festival. VfL scorer Alexandra Popp did not forget that experience. “Champions League is of course a different feeling, another thing.” But because of the conversion of Camp Nou, everything is a bit smaller this time: the women are not moving because the unpopular Olympic Stadium, in which the men of FC Barcelona are currently playing, also has no charm for the Barça women around world footballer Aitana Bonmati.

Speaking of moving: that the Munich footballers again do not use the Allianz Arena, coach Alexander Straus, with the indication that this was not his responsibility. It is also clear that the Bayern Campus with just 2500 places does not offer a worthy setting. It is said that the club will soon take a position to the much discussed stadium question.

Regardless of where it is played: national coach Christian Wück hopes that the German flagships will not cut the sails now after no Bundesliga team reached the KO round in the previous year. “We have to make sure that the top clubs are represented internationally as long as possible,” hopes the 51-year-old. “That is good for all of us, it is good for the players, that is good for the club. A move into the semi -finals would be extremely important for Germany’s football location. “