Match Preview: Barcelona V Wolfsburg

✍️Maddie Walker

On Thursday 27th March, Barcelona face Wolfsburg at home in the second leg of the UEFA Women's Champions League. In the reverse fixture, at home to Wolfsburg, Barcelona came away with a 4-1 which they will carry into their second leg. The game poses as a challenge for Wolfsburg, with them having to beat Barcelona by at least 3 goals to take it to extra time. It will be tough, but not impossible – anything can happen in women’s football. 

📸via Barcelona on Instagram

Barcelona have had very strong results recently in comparison to Wolfsburg, with only 1 loss in 10 games. This stat contrasts to Wolfsburg’s results, with them coming away with only 5 wins, 4 losses and 1 draw. However, recent results can mean nothing, and this was proven when Barcelona faced a shock 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid on the weekend. Wolfsburg will look to exploit Barcelona after coming off the back of a shock defeat. 

This will be the 6th time the two teams have faced, and it always promises to be an exciting fixture. Previous meetings include the UWCL final in 2023, where Barcelona came back from 2-0 down to win the Final 3-2. Unfortunately for Wolfsburg, they will be without one of their UWCL final goal scorers, Ewa Pajor, after she left in summer to join Barcelona. Having said this, Barça will be without some key players due to injury. Full-back Ona Batlle is still out after suffering an injured soleus in the left leg and will be for an expected 3 weeks, with the same going for goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck who has a “troubled tibial area” of the right leg. Although these positions, especially Batlle’s full-back position, pose as an area of weakness for Barça, it’s nothing new. Barcelona dealt with these injuries in the first leg well, and only conceded 1 goal, so the Wolves (Die Wölfe) will have to be more creative in their attack if they want a chance of progressing. 

A win from Barcelona will see them into a 7th successive semi-final, but an impressive win from Wolfsburg (a win margin of at least 4 goals) could spoil the party. The winner – on aggregate – will face either Manchester City or Chelsea, with that second leg being played the same day. Both fixtures will be shown on DAZN, Barcelona v Wolfsburg at 17:45 and Chelsea v City at 20:00 on Thursday 27th March.