The soccer players of SKN St. Pölten said goodbye to the Champions League on Thursday evening with a heavy 2:8 (0:3) home defeat once morest VfL Wolfsburg. The Austrian serial champion fell behind the German champion early on and was quickly lost. As a result, the women from Wolfsburg advanced to the quarter-finals as group winners in Pool B. In the parallel game, AS Roma won 3-0 (2-0) at Slavia Prague.
The Lower Austrians wanted to say goodbye to the premier class with honor, but they failed. Less than five minutes later, coach Liese Brancao’s team was behind. Lena Lattwein took the measure from 17 meters and curled the ball into the cross corner of the St. Pölten goal. Even before the break, the guests, who had to do without their ill coach Tommy Stroot, converted their superiority into more goals. First, Marina Hegering increased the lead to 2-0 (38 ‘) with a good pound from a good 25 yards out, only two minutes later VfL captain Svenja Huth scored following Ewa Pajor hit the bar to make it 3-0 at the break.
After the break, Maria Mikolajova missed the great chance for the hosts’ first goal, the 23-year-old Slovak shot wide following a great solo run (51′). But the bell rang on the other side: Pajor increased to 4:0 following SKN goalkeeper Carina Schlueter failed to grab a cross well enough (56th). St. Pölten then fell apart, Tabea Waßmuth (67th) and Pia-Sophie Wolter scored a brace (74th, 76th) to make it 7-0.
But the goal festival continued: Mateja Zver scored the consolation goal first (78′), before Pauline Bremer scored Wolfsburg’s eighth goal (85′). The Brancao team had the last word, Rita Schumacher (85th) scored her third Champions League goal. 22 goals conceded in six games, twelve of them once morest Wolfsburg alone, show where the Lower Austrians are lagging behind the big clubs in Europe. The group finished St. Pölten with four points in third place ahead of Slavia (2).
The Roma, with the ÖFB team captain Carina Wenninger on the bench on Thursday, rose to the quarter-finals of the European premier class as the second-placed team.
