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Last season, the FCB women around Sydney Lohmann (on the ball) failed at Paris Saint-Germain
Photo: Eibner / Memmler / IMAGO
The footballers of VfL Wolfsburg and Bayern Munich have caught feasible tasks in the group stage of the Champions League.
While at least one bang is waiting for the Munich team on their way to the quarter-finals, the Wolfsburg team bypassed the really big names in the draw on Monday in Nyon.
The Bayern women play in Group D against last year's finalists FC Barcelona.
The team of coach Alexander Straus also meets top star Keira Walsh, for whom Barça paid Manchester City more than 400,000 euros in the summer, the highest transfer fee in the history of women's football.
In addition, the German runners-up have to play against FC Rosengard from Sweden and against Benfica Lisbon.
In the final qualifying round against Real Sociedad San Sebastian, the Bayern women made it into the group stage perfectly.
Last season, FC Bayern made it to the quarter-finals, where they lost to Paris Saint-Germain (1-2, 2-2 aet).
“Of course we faced probably the toughest opponents in Barcelona, but we've played them before and we know what's possible.
That's why we accept it very confidently," said the new head coach Straus.
VfL wants to reach the quarterfinals
Seeded as the German doubles winner, VfL will play in Group B against Austria's Slavia Prague and SKN St. Pölten.
In addition, the two-time title winner and last year's semi-finalist meets newcomer AS Roma.
Rome in particular, "in the Italian league on an absolute par with Juventus", must be kept in mind, warned Wolfsburg's sporting director Ralf Kellermann, but also said: "With all due respect for the tasks ahead of us, we are going with self-confidence and the clear In the group stage, our aim is to qualify for the quarter-finals.«
Final in Eindhoven
Matchday 1 is scheduled for October 19th and 20th, with the top two teams in each group qualifying for the quarter-finals.
The final will take place on June 3rd or 4th, 2023 in the Philips Stadium in Eindhoven.
The French have won six of the last seven events, with only FC Barcelona breaking Olympique's winning streak in 2021.
Eintracht Frankfurt had failed in qualifying to Ajax Amsterdam, Paris FC and Manchester City also failed to qualify for the group stage.
Last spring, Uefa announced that it would pay out 24 million euros per season for the league – four times as much as before.
For the participation in the group phase there is only 400,000 euros.
mfu/sid/dpa