Kellermann proud of resilient Wolfsburg

Wolfsburg women’s coach Ralf Kellermann was delighted with how his team responded to adversity in their Champions League final win over Lyon.

A second-half penalty from Martina Mueller was enough to see the Germans lift the cup with a 1-0 victory at Stamford Bridge on Thursday, denying Lyon their third consecutive win in the competition.

Wolfsburg’s triumph saw them complete a treble of the women’s Bundesliga, DFB Pokal and the Champions League, and ended Lyon’s incredible run of 118 competitive games without defeat, other than on penalties.

Kellermann said the team had to overcome some tough obstacles to pull off the win.

“We had a lot of injuries and illnesses,” Kellermann said.

“Alex Popp didn’t train properly but she played the whole game.

“We wanted to hold back and go on the counter attack, there was a phase in the first half between the 25th minute and half-time when Lyon just attacked again and again but we held tight and our plan worked. We are delighted that we won this title.

“I think that we put on an absolute tactical master performance here, it’s very difficult to take it in at the moment.

“The atmosphere was great, I love these English stadiums so we are all delighted.

“It’s very important that we have a title back in Germany and we’ve beaten Olympique Lyon who are the top team in Europe.”

Lyon coach Patrice Lair said he was bitterly disappointed with the result, but refused to be too critical of his players.

“We are very disappointed, when you lose a game you are always very disappointed – even though we don’t lose very often,” Lair said.

“We didn’t quite do what we needed to do tonight, we waited and waited and we didn’t pose enough of a threat.

“We needed to be a bit more effective and we weren’t effective enough today. Eventually they managed to get the goal and they just had something extra.

“I can’t reproach my players, we just lacked a bit in the final third in terms of getting our foot on the ball and in terms of finishing, it’s a shame.

“We needed to be a bit more effective tonight, some of our players weren’t at their usual level, but they’ve given me such great performances over such a long period that I can’t really criticise them.”